


What Happens to Tomorrow

by N7Wildcat



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Injury, Mild Language, Original Character(s), Sanvers - Freeform, Violence, minor supercorp - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:31:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 56,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N7Wildcat/pseuds/N7Wildcat
Summary: Kelly Danvers, daughter of Alex and Maggie and National City's newest hero, falls into the struggle of a life time when she and her family are targeted by a meta-human by the name of Warden. Kelly, along with Alex, Maggie, her aunts Lena and Kara and cousin Lori have to fight to protect the city and each other. All while Kelly struggles with her identity as the Flare and disagreements about her future at the DEO with her parents.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first actual story I have written in four years (not to say I haven't been writing, just not anything I felt comfortable with posting). This is my first Supergirl fanfic as well as my first Sanvers story, there will be plenty Sanvers and Supercorp but the real focus is on Kelly and her parents. I'm just nervous to post the work, but am so excited to be writing again. Hopefully you all like it, I really want to share this with all of you and hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed working on it.
> 
> Also sorry about any typos, I'm terrible at editing my works. Once my classes slow down I'll have more time to write and to edit. Please be gentle :)

She had been thrown into things before, sides of buildings, concrete sidewalks, hell even the back of a cement truck (that one had been the worst) it didn’t mean it hurt any less when it happened. The alien was faster than she had first thought, having caught her in a sideswipe that sent her tumbling to the ground. Before she knew it, the beast was on top of her, its razor-sharp teeth latching onto her shoulder, tearing the flesh and causing blood to run down her arm. It hurt worse than anything she had ever felt in her life, but she bit her tongue willing herself not to cry out in pain.

  
With her free hand she punched it repeatedly in the face. Instead of letting go the alien dug its teeth in farther, shaking its head causing even more blood to spill. She needed her staff if she wanted to get out of this with her arm still attached, but her weapon lay just out of reach.

  
“Stop biting me,” she said through clenched teeth. “It really fucking hurts.”

The alien didn’t listen, nor did she think it could even understand. It didn’t matter, as long as it was content with tearing at her arm, she was free to use her powers to get it off. Focusing on her free hand she felt tendrils of light start to form, converging in the palm of her hand as solid light until it finally formed something close to a dagger.

“I said, stop biting me!” She brought the blade of light up into the creature’s chin, puncturing the skin until she felt the blade under the alien’s tongue.

  
It screamed in agony, releasing her arm and slinking away. She rolled onto her stomach ready to push herself onto her feet only to collapse back down, suddenly feeling weak. _I am not getting eaten today._ The alien was still pacing around her, not daring to come any closer. She took the chance to crawl to her staff, using it to force herself to her feet. Her armor was destroyed, and her left arm was completely numb, there was no way she would be able to repel another attack.

“You’re one ugly SOB y’know that?”

The alien snarled at her. She raised her staff challenging it to charge. It leapt at her, she braced for the impact. It never came. When she looked up all she could see was Supergirl’s red cape and the alien collapsing to the ground.

“You sure took your sweet time.”

Supergirl turned around grinning. “Sorry, taking care of another emergen- oh Rao!” If it hadn’t been for her superspeed Supergirl would have missed the other superhero collapsing. She caught the armored woman barely keeping her up right. “You’re hurt.”

The woman grunted, letting Supergirl support her. She had to admit she was starting to feel light headed and her legs weren’t cooperating with the rest of her body. She was so out of it she barely noticed when her feet left the ground as Supergirl took off, racing to the DEO.

XXXXX

Alex was delegating the retrieval of the alien to her agents when Supergirl landed on the outside balcony of the DEO. She paid little attention to the super as she made her way over to the command center, not wanting her sister to see how annoyed she was.

“Bring it here, we have a containment cell open.” Alex turned to Kara, noticing the second hero her sister was holding. “Is there something about non-lethal that you don’t quite get Flare?”

Flare raised her head, but Alex couldn’t see her features behind the woman’s helmet. “I didn’t…kill it…” Alex raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me?”  
“It isn’t dead.”

Alex couldn’t keep the annoyance from her face. She had gone over the DEO’s non-lethal policy repeatedly with the woman. “I’m getting really tired of this Flare.” She wanted to continue, but something stopped her. For the first time she noticed Flare’s torn armor and bloody arm. It sent her into an immediate response, her annoyance quickly dissipating. “Get her to the med bay now.”

Kara nodded, disappearing in an instant with Flare in tow. Alex followed behind sending a text to Lena to get to the DEO ASAP. When she reached the med bay, she cleared out all of the agents in the room before moving to the gurney Kara had laid Flare on.

“Help me with her armor.”

Together the two of them removed Flare’s chest plate and jacket, tossing it aside. Alex was finally able to see the extent of the wound. It was deep enough that bone was visible. Normally it wouldn’t have worried Alex to much but the fact the wound hadn’t even begun to heal was concerning. Flare not only had an enhanced healing factor on her own but haranel coursing through her veins. She should have never sustained this kind of damage.

“This looks really bad Alex,” Kara said.  
“It does but she’ll be okay, she always is…” Alex didn’t sound very convincing even to herself. “I don’t understand why she isn’t healing. Or even how this injury got this bad.”  
“Might be the alien, I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Kara suggested.

Alex nodded moving to clean what she could of the wound. “Vasquez,” she said knowing the agent was listening, even if she didn’t respond. “Turn off the audio and camera’s in here.” The request was answered in a heartbeat with a small click letting Alex know that no one would hear or see what she was doing. “Get Kelly’s helmet off for me.” She didn’t like using Kelly’s actual name at the DEO, but this was one of those cases where treating the girl like her daughter instead of an agent was necessary.

Kara did as she was asked, setting the helmet aside. Her niece was unconscious from the loss of blood but breathing steadily. She felt guilty for not arriving to help Kelly sooner, but the young hero was a capable fighter, having been trained by Alex since she was sixteen. She had thought she could handle it. She had been wrong. She watched Alex do her best to close up the wounds but because of the tearing and how deep they were she could only do so much. They would just have to hope that Kelly started healing on her own soon.

It took thirty minutes before Alex finally called it quits, confident that Kelly’s wound would start to heal on its own shortly. She wasn’t too concerned, so long as she remained stable. If anything changed she would be forced to bring in the other medical personal, something she would rather avoid.

“How’s she doing?” Lena asked entering the room. She noticed the bloodied gauze laying on a tray near Kelly’s unconscious form.  
“Still not healing,” Alex said. “Thanks for coming. I was hoping you would help me analyze the saliva from the alien that did this.”

Their relationship hadn’t always been perfect. What started out as a mutual dislike for one another had morphed into a light friendship which eventually turned flirty when both wound up single and drunk one evening. Eventually it had turned into what it was now, a close bond, but one that still had its problems. Alex was still cautious around her because of her relationship with Kara which Lena couldn’t blame her for. But when it came to Kelly (or even Lori) they were always on the same page.

“Do you have a sample?”  
“I have a couple agents getting it now, shouldn’t be much longer.”

Alex was one of the toughest, most held together, people Lena knew, but even the strongest of people had cracks in their exterior. She could tell Alex was more worried than she was letting on. It was her daughter after all. Lena supposed she would be the same way if it had been Lori laying there instead.

“Have you talked to Maggie?” Lena figured the detective would have already heard about the attack, whether it be from Alex or the media.

Alex sighed, shaking her head. “She’s in the middle of a big case. If anything changes I’ll call her.” Alex didn’t look at her but Lena knew she could feel the look she was getting from both her and Kara. “Look she can yell at me later. Unlike you two our fights don’t go on for days.”

“No, you two just screw each other until you aren’t mad any longer.”  
“Kara!” Lena elbowed her wife in the ribs to no effect.  
“What? It’s true.”

Silence settled over them, Alex not bothering to argue her case. Her sister wasn’t wrong, not entirely. She and Maggie would fight, have sex then work I out later. It wasn’t exactly healthy but sometimes they both got so frustrated they needed to burn off steam, usually with each other. Maggie would understand Alex not telling her, she knew that. If Kelly were in any real danger she would have told her wife.

The silence drug on becoming almost unbearable. Alex was starting to wonder what was taking her agents so long to get the sample. The alien had been incapacitated by Kara before she had brought Kelly back to the DEO. She didn’t have to long to dwell on it. Between them Kelly groaned, her eyes blinking open as she groaned.

“My arm is killing me…” she mumbled.

Alex quickly moved to hold her daughter down when she tried to sit up. She noticed small threads of light start to pull together the remaining pieces of torn flesh. _At least she’s healing._ It made no sense that she would start to heal the second she was conscious. Alex remembered when Kelly was sixteen and had nearly died from a synthesized virus. Even in a coma Kelly’s body had fought to keep her alive, yet now it was only doing it as she woke up.

“Don’t move to much Kel, you were hurt pretty bad, your arm hasn’t had time to heal.”  
“Then can I get a trash can or something? I’m gonna be sick…”

Kara flew out of the room, returning just in time to shove a bucket into Kelly’s hands right as she started to throw up. Emptying anything she had on her stomach until she was able to hand the bucket off and collapse back onto the gurney. Alex let her have a minute to recover. As angry as she was, she still felt for Kelly. The young woman had only been doing what she thought she had to do. Alex couldn’t fault her for wanting to be the Flare, for wanting to use powers she was born with. She did sometimes wonder how different things would be had Kelly’s biological parents actually wanted her.

“I take it you’re going to yell at me?” Kelly said, glancing at Alex. “That’s how this usually goes isn’t it?”

Alex sighed. With Kara it usually did end in argument one way or another. If Alex was reckless Kara would yell at her, if Kara was reckless Alex would yell at her. Kelly wasn’t any different. Not completely. When Kelly would be called out for being reckless, she always managed to bring it back to Alex and how she had double standards. She would say one thing and do another. Do as I say not as I do didn’t exactly sit well with Kelly.

“No, you did good today,” she said turning away from Kelly. “Get some rest, let your arm heal, once it has come find me so we can debrief.”

She couldn’t see the confusion on Kelly’s face, but she could hear it in her voice. “That’s it? No ‘you could have gotten yourself killed’?”

“That’s it,” she said, glancing at Lena. “You ready to look at those samples?”  
“Yes, after you,” Lena said letting Alex take the lead.

Kara stayed back with Kelly, unsure if she should follow or stay with Kelly. In the end she decided to stay, taking up a perch in the gurney next to Kelly’s. She stayed quiet, lost in her own thoughts, not knowing what to say or if she should even say anything at all.

“So, she’s definitely going to kill me in my sleep, right?” Kelly said earning a snort from Kara.  
“In your sleep?” Kara chuckled, “I’d be surprised if she doesn’t kill you in the next hour.”

Kelly laughed. Only one thing scared her more than being eaten alive and that was Alex Danvers when she was angry. Even the Devil would run if Alex Danvers came at him in a pure rage.

XXXXX

Lena struggled to keep up with Alex’s pace as they headed towards the lab. Heels on the DEO’s polished concrete floors was not a great pairing. Once in the lab Alex handed Lena the vial her agents had collected from the alien. Lena took it assuming that Alex was going to let her do most of the work for one reason or another. As she was preparing the sample, she felt Alex watching her from behind.

“Is everything alright?”  
“Is Lori ever this difficult?”

Lena chuckled shaking her head. “No but she is only 15. She hasn’t exactly gotten to the point where she’s chomping at the bit to be like Kara.” She wasn’t going to admit it but living with two Kryptonians was exhausting in its own way. She spent more time worrying about Kara than Kara spent getting hurt. Since Lori was born Kara had become a lot more careful, which could have explained why Kelly tended to get into situations that led her to get hurt.

“You need anything?” Alex said changing the subject, she wasn’t sure where she would have gone with the conversation to begin with. She loved Kelly and was extremely proud of her, she just didn’t like worrying all the time.  
“A blood sample would be helpful,” Lena replied.

Alex walked over to a fridge, carefully thumbing over frozen vials before finding the one she wanted and returning to Lena. “It’s a few months old.” She turned the vile over in her hands a couple of times. “After what happened I made a point of testing her blood every few months…” She felt like she needed to explain herself, even though the look Lena held said otherwise.

“You know you don’t have to explain yourself to me Alex,” she said, taking the vial, “I get it. I was so worried when Lori was born, I’d be running tests every other day. You’re worried about her, I understand.”

They were words that she didn’t know she needed to hear. There were times where she felt she was doing to much, being overbearing. But she obviously wasn’t the only one. Lena was right, it was alright to worry as long as that worry didn’t seep into everything else. Which, to Alex’s credit, it hadn’t. Lena took the vial, working it back and forth as the sample thawed.

“Do you think its worth it?” Alex said avoiding Lena’s eyes.  
“What?”  
“Letting your daughter sacrifice herself for everyone else?”

Lena paused, falling completely silent. Her daughter was half Kryptonian, but she wasn’t like Kara, at least not yet. Kelly was a different story, becoming a vigilante at seventeen only to shortly thereafter becoming a so-called superhero working for the DEO a year later. The change had come as a surprise to Alex and Maggie, not so much to Lena, who had seen Kelly slowly evolve into a hero. Lena attributed it to being Kelly’s aunt, she was on the outside, she saw more of Kelly than her parents did.

“I think we both knew going into it that nothing would ever be simple,” Lena started, “Kelly was never meant to sit in the background, she was meant to be something, just like Lori. As much as I don’t like it, she was meant for something greater. When it comes with raising children that aren’t completely human there are sacrifices to be made, and letting them be something more is one of them.”

A harsh laugh came from Alex, “I guess. Let me if you find something, I’m going to check on Kelly.” She saw Lena nod before she left, heading back down to the infirmary. Once there she noticed that Kara was absent. Kelly was still on the gurney only now she was sitting up and in a DEO issue uniform. She heard Alex coming and turned around giving her a slight nod.

“I thought you wanted me to find you?” she said, rising from her perch. “I was just about to leave…”  
“Changed my mind,” Alex shrugged, “Up for a walk? We can debrief while we go.”

Kelly returned the shrug with her uninjured arm. “Beats sitting around here.” She joined Alex by the door. “Lead the way Director.” There was a mocking tone in her voice, but Alex ignored it. She led Kelly out of the infirmary into the hall, passing by a few interrogation rooms and the locker room.

Alex glanced over to her daughter, noticing the younger woman was biting her lip. It was a look she got whenever she was trying to think of something to say after she’d gotten in trouble. Alex let her mull over it for awhile longer. It wouldn’t hurt her to sweat a little after the fiasco that was her fight against the alien.

“I should have been more careful…” she finally admitted. “It caught me off guard at one point, which is when it got the upper hand.”  
“Talk to Lena, see if she’ll let you take a few hours off work to come in and train,” Alex said. “I meant what I said, you did good today. Everyone makes mistakes, me included, you just have to get up, dust off and try again.”

Kelly stopped, tilting her head just like Maggie always did. “Lena gave you some speech about the whole raising an alien thing again, huh?” Alex couldn’t help but laugh at Kelly’s deduction skills.

“She did,” Alex said, “I guess that I always thought out of all of us Danvers you’d be slightly more normal.”

Her daughter grinned. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m anything but normal.” Alex returned the smile, patting Kelly’s shoulder.

“And I couldn’t be happier, as much as I hate this whole vigilante thing,” when Kelly frowned she continued, “however, you make me proud, and I know you’ll be alright this time. But I’m your mom and gonna worry and I’m going to hate you getting beat up. I also know nothing I say will change your mind. The least I can do is stand behind you and do my best to make sure you’re capable of taking care of yourself.”  
“That mean I can leave? It’s my turn to pick up dinner and I need to change.”  
“Get out of here, I’ll see you in about an hour.”

Kelly nodded, not wasting any time before taking off down the hall, disappearing in a flash of light just around the corner. Alex shook her head after the girl. She still needed to talk to Lena about the alien. She checked her phone expecting a text from Maggie only to find a message from Lena instead.

' _ **I’ve got something, meet you in the command center.**_ '

XXXXX

“The alien’s saliva has a very concentrated venom in it,” Lena said the instant Alex entered the room. “Concentrated enough that it completely ignored Kelly’s healing factor. I’ll need more time to figure out the exact make up of the venom, but for now it’s a start.”  
“It seems to be working the way out of her system, wound is healing,” she turned to Kara, “right Kara?”  
“Slowly but surely, it was a really deep bite.”

Alex nodded, the wound no longer seemed to be bothering Kelly, but she could always be putting on a brave face.

“Alright, well I’ll leave you to test it as much as you want, but what you do have is enough for me right now,” Alex said. “Got time to work on it tomorrow?”  
“Can I use my own lab?”  
“If you can give up Kelly for a couple days, she needs to brush up on her training.”  
“I think I can manage with the security I have on hand,” Lena held out her hand with a smile. “You have a deal.”

Alex took her hand. “Good, I’ll get a few more samples over to L-Corp in the morning. As for now I’m going home, it’s been a long day.” She would be happy to get home, take a hot shower and have dinner with her family. After saying her goodbyes she headed out, stopping by the med-bay to grab Kelly’s ruined armor, the helmet was gone telling her Kelly had taken it. Alex would look into getting the armor repaired later. For now, she just wanted to get home.

XXXXX

_Unknown location_

Warden glared at the pacing man; he wouldn’t stop moving which was giving her a headache. Across from her stood another woman, looking just as annoyed as her, only she was less likely to kill the man.

“My client has very specific requests,” he said, pausing in his pattern.  
“I am well aware,” Warden said, running a gloved hand over the blade of her axe, “but I don’t answer to your client. I answer to her and only to her.” She pointed to her boss.  
“You do as you’re told,” the man growled. “That’s what you are being paid to do, we have a deal.”  
“I will do as she tells me. As for you,” she rose from her place, moving so fast the man didn’t register her until her axe was against his throat, “I could gut you like a fish and still get my job done.”

The man looked like he was about to piss his pants. Warden smirked, proud of herself. Good he should be afraid of her, maybe he would learn not to talk back.

“That’s enough, you’ve made your point,” the woman said. “Mr. Marrison, I assure you that my warden her will take care of everything. Your client didn’t go through the trouble of finding us for nothing.”

Mr. Marrison glanced over at the woman, then back at Warden before adjusting his tie. “Very well, I expect to hear from you soon.” He didn’t wait for them to say anything more before bolting.

Warden waited for a moment before turning back to the woman. “Your warden? Last I checked I was your loyal servant.” The woman smiled, shaking her head.

“You are a lot of things to me, but you are the Warden on our Earth, and you will be the Warden on this Earth as well.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, life has been hectic but I finally got this chapter done, hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. I hope you guys enjoy this and I really appreciate you for reading. Sorry for any mistakes.
> 
> Brief mention of abuse right after the potsticker thing. It's only a brief mention, but feel free to skip down a few sentences

Alex hadn’t expected Maggie to beat her home, but she couldn’t say she was disappointed. Her wife of fifteen years was at the kitchen counter with a stack of files in front of her. Alex came up behind her, wrapping her arms around Maggie’s waist and resting her chin on her shoulder. Maggie smiled, her attention never leaving the file in front of her. They remained that way for a while in a comfortable silence.

“Paperwork?” Alex said choosing to break the silence.

Maggie stiffened in front of her lightly shaking her head. “Miles Donovan is trying to appeal his case.” Alex wasn’t sure if she was hearing Maggie right or not. The Donovan case had been closed for years without him saying so much as a word. It didn’t make sense, at least to her, why he would start now.

“Are you taking the lead to keep it from Kelly?” Alex wasn’t sure how Kelly would take any information regarding Donovan at this point. It has always been a subject they avoided completely.

“I’m taking the lead because I want the bastard to rot in his cell,” she bit her lip to keep from continuing. There were a lot of things she wanted to happen to Miles Donovan, and she would gladly assist with them.

Alex was about to continue when the front door slammed shut and Kelly came in holding a large bag of Chinese food. “I’m hungry so unless those case files contain the biggest case to ever happen in National City, they better be going away,” she said setting the food down on the counter.

Maggie shut the folder she had been reading and set it aside with the others. Alex let go of her moving to the other side of the kitchen to get plates. Behind her Kelly and Maggie embraced briefly.

“So, what’s this about you nearly being eaten by an alien today?” Maggie said, lightly elbowing her daughter in the abdomen.

Kelly collapsed into a barstool, frantically reaching for the bag of food. “I have no idea what you are talking about and anything that she,” she pointed to Alex with one hand while piling food in front of her with the other, “told you is a complete lie.” She nodded to herself, refusing to look up from the chicken in front of her.

Her parents glanced at one another with a shrug. Maggie had seen the whole thing on the news while at work, and even if she hadn’t Alex had filled her in not long after Kelly had returned to the DEO barely standing. She had gotten over being angry about Kelly being a vigilante years ago. She let her daughter do what she thought was right, she didn’t like it, but she’d be a hypocrite if she stopped her. “Are we gonna eat or what? I’m hungry.”

Hunger won them all over, with Alex and Maggie taking up seats around Kelly. With their crazy schedules it was rare for them to have a night together where they could just be a family. It had been even worse when Kelly had been younger, with Maggie being at work most nights and Alex trapped at the DEO dealing with the Children of Liberty. Recently things had been less hectic, but they all knew it wouldn’t last. That wouldn’t stop them from enjoying it while it lasted.

XXXXX

Lori kicked at the ground from her spot at the dinning room table. Her mom was in the kitchen working on dinner paying little attention to her. She didn’t mind it, when both her parents were home it was about the same. The only difference was that Lena usually sat with her while Kara cooked, working on something Lori didn’t quite understand yet. Occasionally one of them would help her with homework, though that wasn’t very often.

“Hey mom?”

“Hmm?” Kara didn’t look up from whatever she was cooking. “

"Where’s maime?”

Kara stopped for a moment, looking up at her daughter. Occasionally translations got lost on her, even if she heard the word a thousand times. She shook her head remembering the translation. She knew Lena was at L-Corp running whatever tests she needed to on the saliva that nearly killed Kelly earlier that day.

“She had to stay late at work,” Kara paused, unable to decide how much detail to give the young Kryptonian. “We had a run in with a dangerous alien today, your cousin was hurt pretty bad. Your mom just wants to get a head start on analyzing the chemical make-up of its saliva.”

“Sounds boring.”

“Lori don’t-” by the time Kara turned around her daughter was gone, having flown out the open window. “No that’s fine… I’ll eat dinner by myself.”

XXXXX

Lena sat alone in her office, half asleep from a long day at work. She wanted to go home to Kara and their daughter, but she needed to stay, needed to work. The chemical in the alien’s saliva was dangerous, but also extremely beneficial to her harenal research. It had the potential to completely remove the side-effects of harenal in a human. She needed to figure it out in order to protect her niece, and James, and anyone who had already been given the harenal.

“I just don’t understand…” she spoke to herself, unaware of the Kryptonian standing on her balcony.

“Maybe I can help,” Lori asked stepping into the office.

Lena jumped, spinning around only to see that it was her daughter and no one else. _Strange_ , she thought, _I told Kara I’d be late_ … Panic set in almost immediately. Kara wouldn’t have let Lori come here unless something was wrong.

“Is everything okay?” worry filled her voice, “where’s-”

She was cut off by Lori interrupting, “mom’s at home probably burning dinner,” her daughter went over to the couch to sit down. “She knows I’m here. I thought I could help you so you could come home sooner.”

Lena smiled. Of course her daughter would do something like this. She was just like Kara in that aspect, always worrying about her, always making sure she took care of herself. Over the years she had gotten a lot better at leaving work early and taking time for herself. Today was no different, she just needed to look into what had hurt her niece so badly. She sighed as she went over to join Lori on the couch. Her daughter was smart, smart enough to see something she might have missed.

“Alright, but you can’t tell your mom,” she said.

Lori nodded excitedly. “Deal.”

XXXXX

“Kelly Sawyer Danvers you put that pot sticker down,” Maggie warned, jabbing her chopsticks in Kelly’s direction.

“I bought it, I get the last one.”

“Oh no, you don’t get to play that card,” Maggie tried to grab the pot sticker again only for Kelly to hold it further away. “I raised you.”

“You had help.”

The two glared at each other unaware that Alex had stepped out of the kitchen to take a phone call. Neither of them would budge over the pot sticker. Kelly held out her hand, placing the pot sticker to the side.

“Arm wrestle for it?”

“How would that be fair?”

“Mom still keeps that power dampener around here right?”

Maggie nodded. She wasn’t about to turn her back on Kelly, instead keeping their eyes locked while she fumbled for the dampener in the counter drawer. She handed the device to Kelly, who then attached it to her neck and turned it on. She grimaced as a light pain shot through her injured shoulder but it quickly passed. Once that was done she held out her hand again. This time Maggie took it.

Two seconds later Kelly found herself struggling to keep her hand from the counter top. There was no denying that Maggie was strong (probably stronger than Kelly was without her powers) but Kelly wasn’t easily deterred. She had just about turned the match around when Alex walked back in and took the last pot sticker for herself. Maggie slammed Kelly’s hand into the counter top. When she went to grab the last of the pot stickers, she found Alex already biting down on it grinning from ear to ear.

"Hey! That was mine!" Maggie whined.

“Sorry but strength doesn’t always win the prize.”

“Both of you are horrible parents and I will be asking for new ones,” Kelly said.

Alex ruffled her daughter’s hair. “How’s your arm? You going to make your game Saturday?”

Kelly turned off the power dampener on her neck and tossed it on the counter. “I’ll be there,” she rose from her spot glancing at Maggie, “the question is whether or not you two will be there.” She peeled back her sleeve to show mostly healed bite marks. They were still an angry red, but the swelling had gone down considerably.

“Worry less about me and more about what I’m gonna do to the other team this weekend,” she grinned. “Total annihilation.”

“That’s my girl,” Maggie said smiling. “Now get out of here, it’s late and past my bedtime.”

Maggie hugged Kelly before patting her on the shoulder. Her daughter then hugged Alex before talking her leave. They waited until they heard her motorcycle leave before breaking the silence. Both had been ignoring the elephant in the room while Kelly had been there, but it needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.

“We have to tell her,” Alex said. “She deserves to know Maggie.”

Her wife shook her head. “I don’t understand why, it won’t hurt her to not know. He won’t get out, no harm done.” She knew that wasn’t what Alex wanted to hear, she wanted her to agree that they should tell Kelly. Or at the very least talk to her about it. Maggie didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to put Kelly through any more than she already had.

“If we don’t tell her and she finds out she will never forgive us.”

“She will always forgive you Alex,” Maggie shrugged. She needed a drink and she was sure Alex needed one too. “I just want to protect her Alex; she’s been through so much already. Why make it worse?”

Alex took the glass of scotch offered to her. Kelly was smart enough to figure it out if they didn’t tell her. And maybe Maggie was right, maybe Kelly didn’t need to know, but Alex wasn’t willing to lie to her. Not about this. Not when Miles Donovan still posed a threat to her if he was released.

“I hear you, I really do Mags, but he is dangerous if he gets out, he will go after her and yes Kelly is not the scared four-year-old, he abused but there is still trauma there,” Alex said. “I just want her to be aware that he could come for her.”

Maggie came over to Alex, setting her glass aside and reaching up to wrap her arms around her wife’s neck. “Do what you need to do Alex. Just be careful.” Alex leaned down to kiss her. “What do you say we go to bed?”

Alex grinned sweeping Maggie off her feet into a bridal carry. “That sounds like the best idea I’ve heard all day.” Maggie giggled allowing Alex to carry her back to their bedroom.

XXXXX

Warden slammed her fists into the table causing it to crack and splinter down the middle. “How fucking difficult is it to find a kinetic? They tend to stand out!” An explosion of red light sent the remaining table across the room into the wall. She was working with morons, this Earth, wherever it was, was full of morons.

“Would you please calm down?” the woman in the corner said. “You’ll give yourself an aneurysm.”

“Yes, Ms. Thorul, whatever you say.”

“Warden I am the one who gave you a second chance, don’t get short with me.”

Warden bit her tongue, the light disappearing from around her. “I apologize. We need to find this kinetic, Flare or whatever their name is, and every single one of these lackies is completely incompetent.” She flung her arms out to the side angrily waving at the men and women standing around them. They seemed to shrink down into themselves as Warden continued to rage.

“Cause a scene, draw her out,” Ms. Thorul suggested. “I’m looking into things; it seems one of our lovely creatures followed us here.”

“The big one with the sharp teeth?” Warden said her arms falling to her sides.

“And it seems it took a large bite out of our kinetic.”

Warden came over to Thorul, finally having calmed down enough.“I take it that’s good for us?” Thorul smiled, her fingers quickly moving over a keyboard to bring up images of a large alien with its teeth sunk into a helmeted woman’s shoulder.

“It could be, should you be able to release it.”

“Where is it?”

“Unknown. Give me some time and I’ll give you a place to start,” Ms. Thorul paused turning to the Warden, who nearly towered over her, even in heels. “Be patient darling, we’ll get there, it will just take time.”

XXXXX

The noise was blaring, almost unbearable, like the deafening ringing of the alarm clock. It was far to early for that, outside it was still dark, no earlier than two or three in the morning. She couldn’t figure out where the sound was coming from, and why it wasn’t stopping. She pushed herself up onto her elbows, glancing around the pitch-dark room. Alex was still (somehow) sound asleep next to her. On the bedside dresser next to her, her phone was nearly vibrating off of its perch. She reached over to grab it, quickly rubbing her eyes so she was able to read the caller ID. _Albatross Bay Prison_. She answered it immediately, making sure to check on Alex to assure she was still asleep.

“Sawyer.”

“Lieutenant, this is Officer Pierce at Albatross Bay Prison I’m calling about the request you made to the Warden earlier this morning.”

“This couldn’t have waited until morning?” Maggie said annoyed. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

“Yes ma’am and I apologize, its just that if you want to meet with the prisoner you’re going to have to do it now.”

“At three in the morning?”

“Now or never Lieutenant.”

Maggie signed, sitting up in her bed. “I’ll be there in forty.” She hung up with a yawn. Next to her Alex shifted closer to her, still asleep. She leaned down gently placing a kiss on Alex’s cheek. “I’ll be back in a couple hours babe.”

Alex mumbled something incoherent, turning away from Maggie only to pull the blankets close to her in a death grip. Maggie smiled as she left the warmth of their shared bed and went to get dressed. She would have to thank the warden personally for waking her up four hours before her alarm. And again for pulling her out of her bed where she’d much rather be curled up with her wife.

In less than five minutes she was at the door with a large German Shepard pawing at her legs to follow. She scratched behind his ears for a moment before slipping out the door. She would explain the late-night call to Alex later, if she wanted to speak with the prisoner, she would have to do it now.

The streets were abandoned this early in the morning except for the occasional lone car. A normally fifty-minute drive on only took her about thirty-five, arriving at the prison right on time. She waited a couple minutes before leaving her car. If she had to be up this early, they could wait a couple of minutes. It wasn’t like Albatross Bay had the greatest security either. She waltzed in there once, she could easily do it again.

When she finally entered Officer Pierce was waiting for her at security. He seemed much more awake than she did, probably because he worked nights. Since she hadn’t come from work, she hadn’t bothered to bring her gun, or much of anything save her wallet. He led he down a hallway into an interrogation room.

“You’ll have thirty minutes with the prisoner.”

Maggie shook her head. “I’ll take as much time as I need.” “The warden only granted half an hour.”

“The warden already drug me out of bed at three in the morning, I’ll take as much time as I damn well need, if he has a problem with that he can come down here himself and remove me,” she could see the officer visibly shrink. “Is that clear?”

“Yes ma’am,” he back towards the door. “The prisoner will be brought right in.”

Maggie nodded taking the seat with her back to the door. If she was being honest, she didn’t want to be here at all. She wanted to leave as soon as possible. She may not have been anywhere near National City when the Children of Liberty were making their stand. Hell, she hadn’t even been in the country. News of the entire country nearly falling to pieces had reached her of course, but she hadn’t been there. She hadn’t fought and struggled with Alex and Kara, she hadn’t been there for James or Lena. She had run because she was scared and sat idly by as terrorists attacked and murdered aliens. People she had sworn she would protect.

The door behind her opened behind her followed by two sets of footsteps. Maggie kept her eyes focused on the seat across from her as she waited for the guard to bring the prisoner around. Pierce walked the man around the table, pulling out the chair for him before shoving him into it. Once he was seated Pierce nodded to Maggie before leaving the room.

The man glared at her with cold brown eyes. His face twisted in anger and annoyance; his lip twisted back in a snarl.

“Who the hell are you?” he growled.

“I’m Lieutenant Maggie Sawyer, NCPD Science Division,” she said resting her hands on the table in front of her. “I think it’s time for you and I to talk Mr. Lockwood.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So took me longer than I thought, I was finding it hard to get inspiration, but here it is I'll try to be better about updating but for now for all of you who take the time to read this it means a lot and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

If she had been anyone else a 6’2”, 200-pound man jumping on her back would have knocked her to the ground and crushed her. Instead she ended up flipping him over her shoulder onto the ground in front of her. He groaned as the wind was knocked out of him. Kelly stood over him, waiting for him to catch his breath.

  
“Nick, what the fuck?” she said exasperated at her friend’s antics.  
“One of these days I’m gonna get you.”

  
Nick held out his hand for Kelly to help him up, which she did after rolling her eyes. “Nick the day you’re able to knock me down is the day your parents start liking me.” Nick laughed hard enough that his face started to turn red.

  
“That’ll be the day,” he said once his laughter died out. “Speaking of parents how are yours? Still the ultimate badasses of National city?”  
“I really wish you would stop calling them that.”

  
He grinned wrapping his arm around Kelly’s shoulders in a tight hug. “Embarrassed by your parents?” Kelly shoved him away.

  
“It’s just weird,” she sighed. “Can we go? I’m going to be late.”

  
Nick immediately stopped with his teasing. He caught up with her, matching his stride. She would get into moods from time to time where she everything jut annoyed her. He had known her long enough to know when to back off and not tease her. Kelly was his best friend, he liked fucking around with her, but he also knew when to stop. Unlike some of the other people who hung around them.

  
“Something happen?”

Kelly sighed her head shaking. “You see the news yesterday?” She caught a glimpse of Nick nodding in response. “Mom didn’t go off on me. But you can tell with her. You can see it with her, when she’s mad and she was mad. But she didn’t say anything, and I don’t know why.” It had been bothering her since she left the DEO yesterday. Alex had always been hard on her when it came to her powers, it was her being protective, it had gotten even worse since the incident when Kelly had been sixteen.

Nick paused his head tilting to the side. “Parents always have their reasons, not mine, but normal parents.” When Kelly didn’t stop, he reached out to grab her arm. He didn’t keep the contact long, just long enough to get her to slow down and look at him. All he managed to earn was a glare from her. Nothing he hadn’t gotten from her before, but it was icy, angry and almost unsure.

“I really hate when you do this,” Kelly said unable to help smiling. “Your bullshit psycho-whatever you call it.”

Ignoring the possible dangers to himself, Nick shoved her gently. “And yet you’re still here. Admit it, you can’t get enough of me.” Kelly shoved him back hard enough to throw him off balance. When he managed to stay of his feet, she flipped him the bird.

He laughed, picking up his pace. “Better run Kels, or you’ll be late again.”

She cursed under her breath. Every single time they had this class Nick always managed to make them late. When it came down to it Kelly could make it to class in half a second. She never did, choosing, instead, to always be late with her friend. Sometimes it pissed her off, but Nick always had a way of making it seem trivial. It was the only reason it didn’t truly bother her.

Aside from his incessant need to make her life difficult (and boy did he ever), Nick had been one of the most consistent things in her life. They had been friends since middle school, where had been on the same junior hockey team (something that his parents, to the day, detested). He was like a brother to her (another thing his parents hated), he knew just about everything there was to know about her and her family. She could always rely on him; it didn’t matter the situation.

“This conversation is over. I’m going to class.” She didn’t wait for him before disappearing in a brilliant flash of light.

XXXXX

“All I’m saying is that having an extra set of eyes is never a bad thing,” Alex wasn’t sure why she was having to defend her methods to the Secretary of Defense. She was the Director of the DEO it shouldn’t matter what methods he used as long as they came with results.

“I understand that Director, but in the interest of national security you should not divulge classified information to the CEO of a multimedia company and the wife of a notorious reporter.”

“First of all, sir, that reporter is my sister, second of all Lena Luthor has clearance, she is a consultant of the DEO. The amount of NDA’s she had signed if enough to fill an entire room, if you think for a second, she would leak any classified information to Kara you’re extremely mistaken.”

The Secretary clenched and unclenched his jaw, annoyed at her brazenness. He clearly wasn’t used to having someone talk back. But Alex wasn’t about to let him talk down at her, she wasn’t afraid to step on toes. Especially when they thought they were better than her.

“She can’t be trusted, and honestly Director neither can you.”

Alex had excellent self-control. She rarely lost her temper, the few times she had it had been in extreme situations. If she had been in the same room as the Secretary, she would have thrown him through a window. Unfortunately, she wasn’t. The best she could do was terminate the call, but that would only postpone this conversation, not end it.

“If you’re threatening to replace me, go ahead and try, the government already tried that with Colonel Haley, look what came of that,” she smirked. “If I were you, I’d worry less about the DEO and how I run it and more about yourself. It would be horrible if personal information were to leak to a certain reporter.”

  
“Are you threatening me Director?”

“I am reminding you who you are speaking to,” she said. “Lena Luthor is not a security threat, she had been working with the DEO since the Daxamite Invasion, she has saved thousands of lives. Next time you question my authority you can come see me in person. I’ll show you exactly how I threaten people like you.”

She terminated the call before he had the chance to retaliate. If she never had to deal with a member of the cabinet again it would be to soon. She hated politicians the only one she ever remotely like was Marsdin and she was long gone, having disappeared after stepping down as the President. Ever since then she had been questioned in her own motives by every government official. Year after year it never changed.

“Rough day Danvers?”

  
Alex had been so preoccupied with the Secretary she hadn’t noticed Maggie standing in the doorway of the conference room. She was slightly disheveled, her leather jacket askew and hair messier than usual. Alex knew it was probably from chasing after some perp or dealing with one thing or another at the precinct.

“You could say that,” Alex said leaning on the conference table. “It’s been what seventeen years since Lex broke out of prison? That long and people still don’t trust Lena. She killed her brother for Rao’s sake.”  
  
“People are idiots, they see what they want to see,” Maggie shrugged. “Lena’s doing good things, and all of us know that. I think that matters more than what some jackass thinks.”

“Right.” Alex watched three agents milling about across from the conference room in the lab. She couldn’t remember what they were working on, something important she was sure. “What about you? You look like shit.”

Maggie chuckled, leaning against the desk next to Alex. “A kid let a lizard loose in the office. Spent my morning trying to catch the thing.” She smiled as Alex laughed. It was funny, it wasn’t every day she saw a bunch of grown men freak out over a bearded lizard.

“Besides I’ve been up since three.”

Alex shifted her weight from one foot to the other, not looking at Maggie but keeping a small grin. “I was wondering why I woke up next to a dog and not my wife.” She finally tilted her head to look at Maggie. “Meeting a mistress?”

“Prisoner.”  
“At three in the morning?”

Maggie shrugged. “What can I say, the warden really doesn’t like me.”

“I’ll say,” Alex couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “You went to talk to Donovan?”  
“Lockwood.”  
“What?”

Alex stood up so fast Maggie nearly fell. She knew Alex wasn’t going to be happy about her talking to Lockwood. Afterall she had been out of the country when everything involving Lockwood went down. But he was connected to Donovan and as detestable as he was Maggie was less likely to kill him than Donovan.

“I was hoping he would have some insight into Donovan’s appeal,” Maggie said. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think Warden Hathaway would let me see him. And when he did, I didn’t want to wake you. That’s all.”

Alex visibly relaxed. Apparently, her explanation had been enough.

“Did he tell you anything?”  
“Only that Donovan has been talking to someone outside of the prison.”  
“His lawyer?”

Maggie shook her head. “Someone else.” She sighed. Her visit with Lockwood hadn’t been as illuminating as she had hoped, but it had been something. It gave them some place to start looking.

“Anything else?”  
“Just that Donovan holds a grudge.”  
“With?”  
“You, Supergirl,” she paused biting the inside of her lip, “Kelly.”

Alex sighed her head shaking. “Unsurprising. We’ll keep and eye on it.” She turned towards the door, waving for Maggie to follow. “I was going to talk to Kelly about it tonight, I really think you should be there when I do.”

She had resisted before. She didn’t know how deeply Kelly could still be affected by him. Maggie knew she still hurt when it came to her father, and he had loved her for fourteen years. Donovan had hated Kelly since the day she was born. She may have only been four when Alex rescued her, but the damage had been done and Maggie knew better than anyone just how much that damage could linger.

“I will be,” she said firmly. “No more secrets.”

She meant it.

XXXXX

“Maybe this one here?” Kara was pointing at an isolated protein on the monitor. She had wondered into the L-Corp lab over an hour ago to try and get Lena to take a break, but her wife wasn’t budging.

Lena didn’t look up from her tablet, “possible, but unlikely.” She continued to pace across the lab. She was deep in concentration, something was bothering her about the venom, but she couldn’t place her finger on what. The chemical composition didn’t match any known sample. It didn’t matter if it was alien, if it was from the galaxy something in it would look familiar. Or at least resemble compounds found on Earth. Even the proteins were strange, off, somehow.

“You’re pacing again.”  
“It helps me think.”  
“Food, also, helps you think,” Kara offered, more for herself than for Lena.  
“If you’re that hungry go get food, I’m not stopping you.”

Kara sighed. Lena had left early in the morning, skipping breakfast (again) to work on analyzing the alien venom. It was a pattern she fell into every few months, something left over from her early days in National City. Kara couldn’t break the habit no matter how hard she tried. It always left her with one option, an option she didn’t like using, but sometimes she had to.

Using her super speed, she crossed the room, grabbed the tablet from Lena’s hands leaving Lena a bit confused. Kara held up the tablet shaking it momentarily before shutting it off. Lena crossed her arms giving Kara an icy glare.

“You’ve been here all day, you skipped breakfast, you’re not skipping lunch, let’s go.”

Lena didn’t budge. Alex had tasked her with identifying the makeup of the venom she wasn’t going to abandon it to get lunch. When she was hungry, she would eat and not a moment before. Kara wasn’t going to budge either. She had the upper hand, super strength and all, if Lena wasn’t going to leave, she would carry her out herself.

“This can’t wait Kara.”  
“It can and it will.” Kara crossed the room until she was standing in front of Lena. “The alien is in containment. The chances of there being another one on Earth are slim to none. If there were Brainy would tell us and I would handle it, not Kelly.”

Lena had to admit Kara had a point. The alien was in containment, and it had been the first recorded encounter of that particular species on Earth. Still it wouldn’t hurt to have something that could combat the venom should there be another one.

“And what if it does the same to you?”  
“My powers are from the sun,” Kara said, “Kelly’s are artificially enhanced through the Haranel it probably has something to do with that. Something I’m sure you’ve considered. Now please can we get something to eat? Big Belly Burger?”

The longer she refused to give in the longer she was away from her research. Seeing that she was in a stalemate she wouldn’t win; Lena uncrossed her arms. “Fine but only if we actually get Big Belly Burger.”

Kara bounced on the heels of her feet a huge grin across her face. Sometimes Lena forgot that she married a complete dork, but she wouldn’t trade it for anything. She let Kara lead her out of the lab, into the elevator. She supposed taking a few hours off wouldn’t hurt.

XXXXX

Mr. Marrison had dealt with all kinds of people, politicians, criminals, white collared folks, but none even compared to the ones he was dealing with now. He could handle Ms. Thorul, she could be a bit icy and curt but she was a business woman, he expected nothing less. His problem with the Warden. If he looked at something funny Warden would be all over him. She couldn’t keep her anger in check, not only was that dangerous for him, but his client as well.

The fact he even had to deal with her was insulting. This arrangement was between his client and Ms. Thorul, not her side kick. Sometimes it felt as if the Warden was the one pulling the strings. If that was the case she was running the whole thing to slow. His client needed results and he needed them fast.

“Mr. Marrison, isn’t this a surprise,” Ms. Thorul said. “Can I help you with something?”  
He glanced at the Warden. She was on the other side of the room, her face still covered by a mask. He hated he didn’t know what she looked like. At least if he could see her face he would know what she was thinking.

“My client is getting impatient.”  
“Well it wouldn’t be taking so long if you would get Donovan out of prison.”  
“I’m lost,” he said. “What does Donovan have to do with our deal?”

The request to get Miles Donovan, a man convicted for child abuse and working with a terrorist group, out of prison had baffled him. He had no connections, no family to speak off, at least not that he was allowed contact with. He wasn’t special, he was a waste of time and if it weren’t for the Warden’s fiery glare he would have said so.

“He’s important,” she said. “You want Supergirl, we want the kinetic. And Donovan is the key to getting her.”

“How do you even know Donovan?”

Ms. Thorul crossed her arms, tilting her head to call Warden over. She was by her side seconds later, glaring down at him. He was sure if she could growl she would be.

“Let’s just say that this wouldn’t be the first time he’s met with us,” she said with a cold smile.  
“I need you to start moving, we’ll deal with Donovan later,” he said. “We’ve run into a complication, a detective has been blocking his release.”

He barely had any time to register the exchange between the two before he was pinned to the wall a thick tendril of light wrapped around his throat. He reached up struggling to rip free only to have his arms pinned to the wall. All around him was glowing red, in front of him the looming figure of the Warden, she wasn’t even touching him. It terrified him that someone could kill him this easily.

“I’ll make you a deal,” the Warden’s voice was low and dangerous, “you get Donovan out of prison and I won’t kill you?”

He continued to struggle for air as she continued to strangle him. He couldn’t see behind her mask but he knew she was snarling at him. She hated him, if he didn’t know that before he sure did now.

“What she is trying to say is she’ll leave immediately to get things moving,” Ms. Thorul interjected. “That is if and only if the next thing you do is get Donovan released.”

Warden released him from her grasp, letting him collapse to the floor in a fit of coughing. A chuckle escaped her as he continued to cough and attempt to get to his feet.

“He’ll be out by morning.”  
“And Supergirl will be dead by lunch,” she was grinning. “Win-win.”

XXXXX

Anytime her parents requested they go out to dinner together her anxiety skyrocketed. It wasn’t out of the ordinary, they ate together a few time a month. In recent months it had started to be more frequent of a thing for reasons unknown (but not unwelcome) to Kelly. She spent a lot of time with her parents, something she was made fun of for by people who didn’t know them. It didn’t bother her, they were close, more than she could say about some families.

Right now however, she dreaded that close-knit family dynamic. Whatever they had wanted to talk to her about couldn’t have been good. A fact that was only reinforced when she reached the alien bar and found both her parents at their booth and her food and beer was already there. They had planned this and knew the promise of wings win over the urge to run.

“Alright, what did I do?”

Her parents exchanged glances, neither of them cracking a smile. She felt her anxiety spike again. Usually when she was in trouble they kept a sense of humor, but at that moment they had none. Which meant whatever they had wanted her here for was serious. She reached for the beer, ignoring the fact that her parents were watching, and chugged it. She wasn’t in the head space to deal with whatever this was about. Not after failing her exam earlier.

Alex waited for her to finish before clearing her throat. “There’s really no easy way to say this.” She was fidgeting slightly. If it weren’t for the fact her mother never fidgeted Kelly would have never noticed.

“You two aren’t getting divorced are you?” she thought she would try one more time to lighten the mood. “I could handle it but I don’t think Titan could deal the separation.”

This time Maggie laughed her head shaking. “No, no divorce, and if there was the dog would handle it fine.”

Alex on the other hand remained stoic, which eventually trickled over to the rest of them. The longer they sat there the more nervous Kelly got. She had already lost her appetite, a rare happening, but not unheard off.

“What’s this about?”  
“I’m not going to sugarcoat this,” Alex paused glancing at Maggie, who nodded. “It’s about your dad.”

Kelly froze not sure if she was hearing correctly. “My dad? What happened? Did something happen?” She could feel her panic building, they wouldn’t have brought him up if there wasn’t something wrong. She reached for her beer only to remember it was empty, she needed a drink.

“Kelly hey easy,” Maggie started to reach for her hand but stopped. “I know you don’t want to hear this but we thought you should be aware of the situation.”  
“What situation? What the hell is going on?”

She could feel the light start to collect around her legs, slowly moving up towards her torso. Alex seemed to notice immediately, she waved down the waitress and ordered a whiskey.

“You said this was over.”  
“Listen to me, Maggie is doing everything she can to stop his appeal, but there’s a chance that he’ll be released.”

She slammed her fist into the table, unable to swallow her rage. It was too much. “I can’t do this.” She stood up, nearly knocking over the waitress as she set the whiskey on the table. “I’m not doing this.” She grabbed the glass, slamming the shot.

“Kelly hang on.”  
“You said you were dealing with it so deal with it,” Kelly said, refusing to look at either of her parents. “I’m going home, I’m not doing this.”

This time when she started to leave neither of them tried to stop her. Alex dropped her head into her hands, while Maggie rubbed her shoulder.

“I don’t want to hear ‘I told you so’,” she said.  
“She’ll cool off, she always does,” Maggie said, “give her some time.”  
“I need a drink.”

Maggie chuckled, “I think we both could use a drink.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So its been over a month and I apologize. To be honest I didn’t realize how long it had been. I just recently started a new job so along with being in class two days a week I’m also working part time, and I am terrible at time management. Like horrible. But I hope you’re enjoying this story. I can't thank all you readers enough for reading, it means the world. I'm trying my best to update at a fairly regular interval. So for now please enjoy

The city was quiet for once as Kara continued her patrol over the city. Not a robbery or fire in sight, she couldn’t even hear anything wrong. It wasn’t unusual for the city to find itself in lulls of peace, but it was still an odd concept to her. Sixteen years ago it was almost non-stop fighting, even a few years ago she had still found herself saving at least a person a day. Today only stood out because of the recent alien attacks on the city, they had been far more frequent as of late, one of them including that alien from a few days ago that took a chunk out of Kelly’s arm. She feared it was only the calm before the storm, that something bigger and badder was headed their way.

  
“I think I’m going to call it a day Alex,” Kara said over her comm, “I can’t find anything worth investigating.”  
“Brainy picked up something strange on the radar, he’s looking into it right now but if you could keep an eye out for a few more minutes that would be great,” her sister said, sounding tired.

Kara knew things hadn’t gone well with her niece the night before. Alex had called her after Maggie had gone to bed to fill her in on what had happened. Kelly was understandably scared, no one was blaming her for that. But from the sound of things Alex had at least hoped her to handle it better than she did.

“She’ll come around Alex,” Kara said, hoping her sister wouldn’t redirect the conversation, “She always does.”

She heard Alex sigh and could almost see her rubbing her eyes in her head. “I know, I’m just worried, you know how we Danvers are.”

Kara chuckled, she knew exactly how they were, although Kara didn’t go straight to a bottle of whiskey when she was in a bad place. She was the only one out of the four of them (that was of course, her, Maggie, Alex and Lena) that didn’t drink on a regular basis.

“Lena said she was fine earlier. Probably just wants some time to herself.” Kara scanned the city line using her x-ray vision to see past some of the taller buildings. “Anything on that radar ping?”

There was a pause while Alex went to talk with Brainy. Even though Kara could hear the conversation she was confused with what Alex told her. “It looks like Kelly is flying around.”

She shouldn’t have been. Right as Kara was leaving for patrol Kelly had come by the apartment to play Mario Party with Nick, Lori and one of Lori’s friends. By her count Kelly would be there for at least another hour if the game was going the way it usually did.

“I’ll go check it out, but she should still be with Lori.”

Another paused follow by another deep sigh from Alex. “I’ll call her. Be careful until I get back to you.”

XXXXX

They were six turns in to Mario Party, Lori had inevitably pulled ahead leaving the rest of them to gang up on her. She was seconds away from stealing a star when her phone rang, distracting her enough to roll low and miss her goal. Cursing under her breath she reached behind her fishing for her phone. Her fingers finally found it and she answered without looking at the caller ID.

“Danvers.”  
“Kelly, hey its mom, listen,” she could hear Alex hesitate, “Brainy picked up a kinetic signature a minute ago, was that you?”

Kelly glanced at Nick then Lori, shrugging at her cousin who was clearly listening in on the conversation. “No I’m still with Nick, Lori and her boyfriend- OW hey no hitting!” Lori stuck her tongue out at Kelly.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”  
“Uh huh.”  
“I’m not her boyfriend,” Ben spoke up for the first time, looking anxious being caught in the middle of Lori and Kelly.

She could hear Alex talking to someone she assumed was Brainy on the other end of the line but she could barely tell what they were saying. If her mom was truly concerned she wouldn’t be wasting time on the phone. Chances were it was a metahuman they were picking up, or an alien with kinetic powers. There were a lot of them, Kelly just happened to be one of the only Photokinetics in the country. From what she understood, from one of Brainy’s rants, Photokinetics were extremely rare. Brainy had only run into them a number of times during his time in the future.

“I might need you, can you stay on the phone?”  
“Yeah of course,” she said. “Nick play for me will you?”  
“What about the mini games?”

She glared at him. “Figure it out.” Nick had no time to argue before she shoved her controller into his hands and headed out of the room. Lori looked like she was about to follow her but a quick glance from Kelly told her to stay put.

“Do you need me?”  
“Hang on.”

XXXXX

She hadn’t seen it coming, she hadn’t even heard it coming. One second all she could hear was the sound of the city, the next Alex was shouting the kinetic wasn’t Kelly and something hard connected with her jaw nearly sending her crashing into the side of a building. Kara was able to catch herself before impact quickly flying away from the building, hoping to avoid damage as much as possible.

The figure in front of her could have easily been her niece, if her niece wore armor that was pure black, and instead of the yellow light she was used to seeing, this figure was surrounded by a glowing red light, almost like a red sun.

“You’re a surprisingly hard woman to find Supergirl,” she said her voice muffled by her mask. “I actually had to put up an effort. Just my luck you were out patrolling today.”  
“Who are you?”

She couldn’t see because of the mask but Kara knew the woman was grinning. “I am the Warden, and you?” the Warden laughed, “you are going to die.”

Warden moved faster than Kara could track her. One moment she was in front of the super, the next Kara felt a fist connect with her chest and she was plummeting to the ground. She hadn’t even hit the ground before a kick connected with her ribs, had she been human they would have broken from the force of the blow. When she hit the ground she hit the ground hard. Dirt and gravel flew up from around her, creating a crater that she lay motionless in for half a second trying to recover. Warden stood at the edge of the crater, watching her from behind her mask.

If Kara didn’t act fast she was afraid Warden would do exactly what she set out to do. She had fought Reign until she was bloody and barely conscious, she could do the same now. What bothered her about this was how random it was. With Reign, the Daxamites and Non she had at least known their goal. For this Warden all she knew was that she wanted her dead, no rhyme or reason.

Getting to her feet was difficult, feeling like she had been punched through several buildings, but she managed to do it. Setting her feet apart and raising her arm, ready to fight. She expected Warden to charge at her, to wear her down.

Instead Warden started clapping her hands together slowly, a deep chuckle rising from her chest. “I admire the fact you’re willing to put up a fight,” she sighed tilting her head in a way that Kara found familiar but also completely foreign. “Truth be told Supergirl I would let you live if I had the choice. But that isn’t how things are going to go.”

“Why me?”  
“Would you rather I go after Flare?”

The mention of her niece set her ablaze. She shot forward, connecting a heavy punch to the Warden’s face. She stumbled back but didn’t fall, the light around her growing brighter than before.

“You know who she is?” Warden said, “Excellent.”

XXXXX

Alex watched in dismay as this Warden lunged after her sister again. Every punch seemed to weaken Kara more and more, to the point where after a particularly hard hit Kara collapsed to her knees, unable to stand. Kara couldn’t win, she could see that, but she wasn’t sure sending Kelly in was a good idea. She might end up exactly like Kara, or worse.

But her sister was fading, and they didn’t have a team ready to bring in the assist. Kelly was her only option. She had to let her go.

“Kelly get to the pier now, Kara is badly hurt,” she said, her voice low, “get there and disengage.”  
“On it.”

She could hear Kelly give an excuse to Lori and Nick, apologizing for having to run into work. Alex just hoped she would make it in time, Kelly was fast, faster than Kara, but the fight had taken a turn. Kara was now on her back with the Warden standing above her, a foot on her chest. She couldn’t tell because of the quality of the video but it looked almost as if light was moving away from Kara. Alex knew kinetics could manipulate energy, but the amount that Warden was manipulating light was unheard of.

Brainy glanced up at Alex, worry heavy on his face. In recent years he had become much more adept at showing emotion, for which Alex was grateful. She shook her head, having to idea what she should say or how she should feel. It wasn’t right putting her own daughter at risk to save her sister, there should have been another way.

“Alex?” Brainy pointed to the screen in front of them just as Warden lifted Kara’s limp body from the ground and took off towards the sky.  
“Please hurry Kelly.”

XXXXX

She didn’t like running into a fight with damaged armor, she just hadn’t gotten around to fixing it since her encounter with the alien. But her mom had sounded scared, something that Kelly rarely heard, so she ignored how torn up her gear was and took off to get help her aunt.

Alex had said the piers, but when she arrived all she saw was the aftermath of a fight, no Kara or bad guy in sight. Only after Alex came over the comm telling her to look up that she saw Kara. Or more precisely, she saw Supergirl with a torn cape and suit plummeting back to the Earth. Kelly noticed immediately that Kara wasn’t moving, she was completely limp. If she hit the ground she could very easily get hurt.

Without thinking, Kelly took off after her, hoping to catch her before she hit the ground. She made it to her in record time, but she hadn’t accounted for Kara’s velocity. Catching her caused Kelly to lose all forward motion and soon she was crashing to the ground with Kara. She groaned but recovered fairly quick, light swirling around her as she laid Kara flat on the ground.

“Supergirl, you still with me?” she shook her slightly, they had gained a crowd of observers which meant she had to be extra careful. “She’s breathing but she’s in bad shape.”  
“Get out of there Kelly, forget about the Warden and bring Kara here,” her mother sounded even more urgent than before.

She was going to do as Alex said, she didn’t want to risk getting innocent people hurt, and Kara need help. She was so close to running when she felt someone behind her. The amount of energy was almost over powering. She turned around coming face to face with Warden. The woman was taller than her, but not by much, her face was hidden much like hers. She noticed the light emanating from around Warden was red, unlike her own that was golden, her armor was also pure black instead of teal and red (a horrible combination but Kelly liked it).

“Finally,” she shouted. “I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

Kelly clenched her jaw, reaching for her staff which she extended to its full length. “You won’t win a fight with me, leave while you still have the chance.” She could hear Alex in her ear telling her to not engage, to just run, but she ignored it. She wouldn’t make it very far if the Warden was a Photokinetic like her.

“And miss the chance to fight you?” Warden laughed, red light starting to twist around her arms. “Never.”

They clashed, red against yellow, fist against staff. They hit with enough force to throw them both back. Kelly was first to get her footing, already feeling the advantage of the Haranel, the difference in their strength clear. She could win, she just had to be smart, but she had to do it fast, Kara was already looking worse.

She charged forward, staff raised, not letting Warden recover. Her staff came down hard across Warden’s mask. Warden’s shoulder’s dropped before her knees buckled. Kelly didn’t relent, bringing her staff up to catch her in the chin, sending Warden flying back, tumbling in the dirt.

“This is my city, and this is your last chance, surrender before I’m forced to beat you down,” She said pointing her staff at Warden.

A sound rose from the Warden’s throat that caused her to stiffen. Warden was…laughing- or cackling was more accurate. She propped herself up on her elbows, so she could see Kelly. It was unsettling to the point it made her skin crawl. Kelly could see her eyes behind the mask, they were almost crazed, like she was having fun.

“That the best you got?” Warden taunted. “Pathetic.”

The light around Kelly grew brighter as her anger rose. The Warden was losing, she had no reason to be so cocky, so confident that Kelly was going easy on her. She clenched her fist around the quarter staff. If the Warden wanted more, Kelly was obligated to oblige. She launched herself forward, collecting light energy around her fist and weapon, priming herself for the finishing blow. She heard Warden laughing, saw her getting to her feet and then…

...Then she hit the ground hard, her ears ringing from a world shattering noise. Kelly looked up from the visor of her helmet to see Warden standing over her, holding a device. She screamed at the intense pain in her head, clawing at her helmet trying to get the noise to stop. Warden kicked her in the side, once then twice until she was lying on her back in agony. She felt a boot on her throat, pressing down, making it hard to breathe.

“Are you…going to kill me now?” Kelly struggled to speak with the boot on her neck, and the device still had her ears ringing.

“Kill you?” Warden scoffed, “I don’t want to kill you Flare. Far from it. I simply what to extend an offer to you. You could be so much more, you have so much potential, but it’s held back by this notion that all you are meant to do is someone else’s bidding. Think about it together we could be unstoppable. All you have to do is cut the ties.”  
“You know nothing about me,” Kelly spat.

The noise suddenly grew louder sending another wave of pain through her skull. Warden’s boot left her throat. “We’ll see soon enough.”

Kelly could barely see through the tears in her eyes, but she was sure that Warden picked up her quarter staff and started towards Kara. Instinct took over, she rolled onto her stomach, trying to drag her way over to Supergirl and the woman looming over her. She didn’t make it far before her skull began to ring again.

Warden stood over Supergirl, Flare’s staff in hand. She was disappointed that the fight had been so brief. It had been expected, Kryptonians were fairly susceptible to kinetics but even those who were weakened by her powers put up more of a fight. She might have taken it a bit too far, Warden enjoyed a challenge, even if it was a self-imposed one.

She spun the staff in her hand, it was such an awkward weapon to her, but something about using it to kill Supergirl made her giddy. Her fingers twitched as she began to draw the ambient light from around the unconscious super. It only took a minute before she saw the change in her, she was vulnerable now. Warden raised the staff, pausing to take in the sight. She didn’t make a habit out of killing, it always seemed like a waste of time, but sometimes she had no choice.

“It’s nothing personal,” she whispered. “It never was.”

The staff came down, poised to impale her. It was a fraction on an inch from piercing the super’s skin when something impacted Warden’s shoulder causing her to stumble and drop the staff. She looked around wildly trying to figure out what had happened when her eyes fell upon multiple police officers. The one closest to her was a woman, a detective, with her gun still trained on her. A growl rose from her throat as blood began to trickle down her arm.

Another shot hit her square in the chest, but it didn’t penetrate her thick armor. The detective kept moving towards her, firing again, this bullet pinging off her mask. Warden focused on gathering light around her arm, a few dead cops were not skin off her bones. Only she didn’t get the chance, Ms. Thorul’s voice was suddenly in her ear, telling her to retreat. Annoyed she used the ropes of light around her fingers to pull the staff towards her before launching it at the group of cops. The detective and two others jumped out of the way as it went sailing by, giving Warden the time she needed to make a hasty escape.

XXXXX

Maggie saw Kelly collapsed on the ground, struggling to get to Kara. She wanted to run to her, to help, but she couldn’t, she had to make sure everyone else was alright first. The staff that had been thrown at them had embedded in one of the cruisers. Two officers were currently trying to figure out how to get it out.

“Everyone alright? Anyone hurt?”

No one besides Kelly and Kara seemed injured in any way allowing Maggie to turn her attention to Kelly. Her daughter was struggling to get to her feet and was panting heavily behind her helmet. Maggie went to her holding out her hand to assist but was quickly denied.

“Handle the crowd,” she said her voice hoarse. “I need to get Supergirl out of here.”  
“Are you sure?”

Kelly met her gaze, tilting her head slightly in the way Maggie always did. “You missed the start of the fight, I had her beat, if she hadn’t cheated I would have won.”

Maggie nodded slowly not allowing her concern to show. Kelly was looking more stable by the second, whatever had transpired before they arrived hadn’t had much of a lasting effect. Kara on the other hand needed medical attention and soon.

“Go,” Maggie said, “hurry up.”

Kelly went to Kara immediately momentarily struggling to get her aunt onto her feet so she could sling her arm over her shoulder. With one last nod towards Maggie, Kelly took off with Kara, disappearing in a flash of brilliant yellow light.

Maggie went back to her officers, directing them to take statements from anyone who may have seen the fight. The two officers that were trying to remove the staff had given up. Maggie, knowing the trick to it went over to it and hit the hidden button Kelly used to collapse it. There was a scraping of metal as it collapsed into itself, freeing it from the cruiser.

“Tape this area off will you?”

They went to do as she asked while she scanned the area. The damage was fairly minimal, thanks to Kara keeping the fighting contained to one area. There was nothing much she could do except take statements with the other officers before heading to the DEO.

XXXXX

Alex was pacing the command center when Kelly arrived with Kara slumped against her shoulder. She rushed to her sister and daughter with agents in tow. Kara was in bad shape, blood seeping from her nose and a cut on her lip. Her breathing was labored and uneven. Kelly didn’t look to worse for wear but it was hard to tell behind her armor.

“Get her under the yellow sun lamps, I’ll be there in a minute,” she ordered two of the agents who took Kara from Kelly.

With the weight removed from her shoulder Kelly slumped slightly, but she didn’t remove her helmet. Alex reached out to support her but Kelly shook her head.

“Supergirl needs you more,” she said. “I’m fine, I promise.”

Alex hesitated, Kara would be alright after some time under the lamps, taking the time to examine Kelly wouldn’t hurt.

“Please just go take care of her, I just want to get out of this gear.”

This time Alex let go of her daughter’s shoulder. She didn’t agree but she wasn’t going to argue. Kelly didn’t look seriously hurt, she could always be examined after she was out of her armor. She nodded at Alex before brushing past her towards the locker room. Alex glanced after her one last time before jogging off in the direction of the med-bay. Kelly would be alright, she always was.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? An update within a week? Truth is I had a lot of inspiration for this chapter which hopefully will flow into the next chapter, I also had a week off work which has helped. I'm trying, really trying to be more consistent and not take a month to update. and all of you reading and leaving comments and kudos, you're why I keep posting. So thank you all so much for reading, I'd love to hear from you, what you think so far (I don't usually reply but I'm trying to start) and please, please, please enjoy.

“That bitch,” Warden growled, ripping off her armor and chucking her mask across the room, nearly hitting someone.

Her face and chest were bruised from where she had been shot and her shoulder hadn’t stopped bleeding. She would have to dig the bullet out herself before it would start healing. Ms. Thorul sat nearby, silent as usual, observing her as she prepped her wound. She wasn’t the type to get her hands dirty, she liked to stay back and let others handle it. Even when it came to her precious Warden she let someone else deal with it.

“You were distracted,” Ms. Thorul said simply. “I’ve never known you to be so absent minded Warden.”  
“It’s a waste of time trying to kill Supergirl,” she said. “If I’m going to kill her I’m going to have some fun doing it. I wasn’t expecting Flare to be so powerful, or the fucking NCPD showing up.”

She dug into her arm with a pair of pliers searching for the bullet, it hurt like hell but she grit her teeth, ignoring the pain. On her Earth the police had been cowards, running at the first sign of any meta-human involvement. Here there was no fear of people like the Flare, they worked together for some reason. It made her sick.

“More powerful than you,” Ms. Thorul inquired.  
“She’s different,” was all Warden said.

Grunting she tore the pliers from her arm holding the bullet up to examine it. “We need her.” She tossed the pliers aside, and picking up a needle already prepared with the stitch.

  
“We’ll get her soon enough,” Ms. Thorul said, rising. “Come here, let me do that.”

Warden handed her the needle, leaning back on the table to allow Ms. Thorul access. Her fingers where gentle as she cleaned around the wound, being more careful than Warden had been just moments before. It was a rare show of affection from her boss, but not completely new. Ms. Thorul had her moments where she showed she truly cared about Warden. She didn’t need the affection, she knew how the older woman felt about her. Still, sometime it was nice to have her show she cared.

She didn’t flinch when Ms. Thorul began to stitch the wound. The dressing wasn’t completely necessary, she would be fully healed in a few hours, but it kept the bleeding to a minimum, which is what she wanted.

“All the more reason we need Donovan,” Ms. Thorul said. “From what I understand he knows who Flare is.”  
“Can we trust him?” Warden had never met Donovan, but she knew he wasn’t a good man.

Ms. Thorul smiled as she finished dressing her wound. “Of course not,” she ran her hand through Warden’s short hair. “That’s why I have you. I know you would never let him do anything that would jeopardized our mission.”

“Of course.” Warden rose, taking a deep breath. “What do we do about Marrison?”

She sighed, Marrison would be a problem until they were successful in killing Supergirl. They could simply kill him, but that brought about the issue of Marrison’s handler. Ms. Thorul knew they needed to deal with it one way or another, she just hoped that they could hold off on anything drastic until Donovan was released.

“For now we deal with him,” she said. “But if he has Donovan out, well, you do what you do best.”

Warden gave her a curt nod. She hated Marrison and would be happy to kill him if that was what Ms. Thorul wanted. She would do anything for her boss, including murder.

XXXXX

Kelly tore off her armor, her chest tightening in a full blown panic attack. She had held it together long enough to get into the locker room but as soon as the door shut behind her it had taken over. Her helmet was tossed aside revealing to her that her ears had been bleeding. She collapsed against a random locker, trying to slow her breathing. The last time she had had a panic attack like this had been in high school.

Stress brought it on, but she couldn’t pinpoint what had caused it to be so severe. Warden had gained the advantage after using a sonic device, it wasn’t that she was stronger. Maybe it was because of Kara, she’d never seen Kara hurt like that. She was unstoppable, she shouldn’t have gone down that easily. But that wasn’t it either, it had been what the Warden had said. Had she been right? Was she being held back by her ties to her family? No, she knew that wasn’t true, she was who she was because of them.

“Kelly?”

Kelly looked up to see Maggie standing over her, a concerned look passing over her features. Maggie kneeled down beside her daughter, attempting to wipe some of the dried blood from the side of Kelly’s face.

“Is Kara okay?” she refused to meet her mother’s eyes, afraid that she might break.  
“She’s a little worse for wear, but she’ll be alright,” Maggie said taking a seat next to Kelly.

Maggie noticed Kelly shift out of the corner of her eye. Taking a risk she extended her arm around Kelly’s shoulders pulling her closer. Kelly allowed it, resting her head on Maggie’s shoulder.

“I’m proud of you for today,” Maggie said. “I want you to know that.”  
“I should have run…”

Her mom chuckled. “Danvers don’t run,” she pulled away to look Kelly in her eye. “I can’t tell you how many times Alex ignored orders to run, she just wasn’t capable of it, and neither are you.”

They were silent for a while. Kelly wasn’t sure if she could tell her mom what Warden had said to her. She was afraid it would cause a problem, force her parents to keep her out of the fight. But Maggie would never do that, Alex wouldn’t either, but they would be concerned. They deserved to know, they needed to know. She didn’t have to tell them everything that had been said, just the important part.

“Can I tell you something?”  
“Of course.”  
“Warden said something to me, before you arrived…” Kelly’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I don’t think she expected me to be much of a challenge…she wasn’t trying to kill me. She let me go.”  
“Did she say why?”

Kelly shook her head, already regretting what she was about to say. “No, at least I don’t think so, I couldn’t really hear.”

Maggie hugged her tighter but didn’t say anything, her stomach twisted in a knot. She didn’t like lying to her parents, but right now they didn’t need to know. It would be safer that way.

“Come on kiddo, Alex will want to take a look at you.”

Kelly nodded, getting to her feet and extending a hand out to Maggie. Her mother took it, allowing Kelly to pull her to her feet. She smiled at her daughter, ruffling her hair before starting out of the locker room. Kelly grabbed her helmet, ignoring the rest of her gear to follow after her. When she caught up with Maggie, she was holding something in her hand.

“I think you dropped this.”

She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly before taking the staff offered to her. “Yeah… sorry about that.”

Maggie chuckled, punching her daughter in the shoulder. “It missed all of my officers, no big deal.”

XXXXX

The thing about Miles Donovan was he liked to cause trouble. No matter who he was working for, whether it be Cadmus or the Children of Liberty, he like to cause trouble. It was something he had always done. His first wife had hated it, his second wife had tolerated it until the trouble had spilled down to encompass their daughter. She had left after that, leaving the girl to him. He resented her for that, leaving a toddler in his care, a child that was a freak, inhuman. He had dealt with it, at least her thought he had until Supergirl and the FBI showed up at his door and took his daughter away, sending him to prison. Seventeen years he had spent in prison, waiting for his chance to get back at that agent who took his girl away. Seventeen years he had waited for his revenge, and now it was at his fingertips.

He had never expected to see Ms. Thorul again, they had met once, years ago when he still had Kelly. She had made him see the benefit of a special child like Kelly. She made him realize what Kelly could be should she be pushed in the right direction. The Children of Liberty had been so near sighted in their goal, but with meta-humans like Kelly their goals could go so much further. Back then the Warden had been an enigma, a cloaked woman who didn’t speak except for the occasional grunt. He wondered if she was still like that or if she had lightened up in the past seventeen years.

He got his answer mere seconds after entering the room. Ms. Thorul was seated at a makeshift desk, while Warden stood off to the side, sharpening the blade of an axe. The former acknowledge him as he came up to them while the latter remained focused on her weapon. Miles smiled widely at Ms. Thorul, a gesture that she did not return.

“I see Mr. Marrison kept him promise,” she said simply.  
“What’s the deal anyway?” Miles said, placing his hands on the desk to lean closer to her. “What took you so long?”  
“There was a complication involving the NCPD,” Ms. Thorul said. “It’s been dealt with accordingly.”  
“So what’s the next step,” he asked. “Seventeen years is a long time to wait.”  
“Unfortunately we’ve run into a snag,” she said, glancing at Warden. “It’s nothing we can’t work around but it will take some planning.”  
“Let’s get to-”

Miles was stopped midway through his sentence by a door being violently thrown open. Warden reacted in a snap, placing herself between the intruder and Ms. Thorul, her axe held tightly in her hand. Mr. Marrison stomped through the door making his way to Ms. Thorul. He shoved Warden aside (something Miles didn’t think possible, but he saw Warden snarl).

“What the fuck have you done?” he growled at her.

Ms. Thorul remained stoic, lacing her fingers together, resting her hands on her desk. “I’m sorry, what exactly are you referring to?” Her face betrayed nothing but the hairs on the back of Miles’ neck stood on end. She was terrifying.

“Don’t give me that,” he spat. “You were supposed to kill Supergirl! According to every goddamned news station in the city she’s not dead.”  
“We weren’t expecting Flare or the NCPD,” Ms. Thorul said. “We’ll be better prepared next time.”  
“There will be no next time,” Mr. Marrison said. “You’re done, all of you.”

She sighed. It was inevitable that they would come to this point, she had wished to avoid this for as long as possible, but it seemed that Marrison had no patience. Warden met her gaze and nodded, stepping in front of Miles so she was behind Marrison. Miles took a step back. He was enjoying the show but he wasn’t sure where this was going.

“If that’s what you want,” she said with a smile.  
“Bitch.”

Miles didn’t even see it happen. One moment Warden was standing there, the next there was a crack and Marrison collapsed to the ground, his neck broken. Ms. Thorul sighed once more, leaning back in her seat, clearly uninterested in what had just happened.

“What should I do with him?” Warden circled around Marrison’s body only to kick his leg. “Give him to the NCPD?”

Ms. Thorul thought for a moment. “Yes, put him somewhere he’ll be found easily, make sure the Science Division gets the case. I want to be able to keep tabs on them.” Warden nodded, before motioning to Miles.

“Help me with this.”

Miles did as he was told, taking both of Marrison’s arms in his hand. Warden grabbed ahold of his legs and together the two carried the lifeless body out of the door he had entered from. Ms. Thorul remained in her chair as the two carried the body away. It would take them some time to get rid of the body. Enough time for her to begin to formulate a plan, they would have to move up their timeline now that Marrison was dead. His boss wouldn’t take too kindly to his death, they couldn’t risk him interfering with their true plan. It did leave open whether or not they would go ahead and kill Supergirl. They didn’t have to, but it seemed awfully wasteful not to. It didn’t matter, she could always change plans. After all she wasn’t working for anyone, not truly, they all worked for her, even if they didn’t know it. Which was exactly how she liked it.

XXXXX

It was rare that both Danvers family’s found themselves at the DEO at the same time, let alone crammed into a small interrogation room. It was a tight fight, especially for six of them. Brainy had opted out of the meeting, something about not interfering with the timeline or what-not. Kara was still a little wobbly on her feet but she had insisted they not have the meeting in the med-bay. Kelly couldn’t blame her, she hated the med-bay just as much as she hated the hospital. If she could avoid them she would. She had even asked Alex to examine her in a different room for that reason, luckily nothing was wrong.

“Alright, what do we know?” Alex crossed her arms over her chest looking between Kelly and Kara.  
“There’s another Photokinetic in town and she can render Kara useless?” Kelly offered with a shrug. “I mean what was that like Kara?”

Kara glanced at Lena taking a deep breath. The event had clearly been traumatic for her, being rendered completely powerless and nearly being killed. It was enough to make even the toughest of them bulk.

“It was like being under a red sun,” she said. “I couldn’t feel any of my powers, it was like she took them. Absorbed them somehow.”  
“Is that even possible,” Maggie asked.  
“Theoretically yes,” Lena spoke up her gaze falling on Kelly. “It makes sense a kinetic would have the ability to do that. I think with practice Kelly could do the same. If I’m right, and I believe I am, all Warden did was remove the ambient light from around Kara, making her powerless.”  
“Seems a bit overpowered to me,” Kelly said earning glances from everyone.  
“I think you already meet that mark,” Maggie said. “Photokinetic with Haranel in her blood. You had Warden in a corner until she used that sonic device.”

She wasn’t wrong. The entire fight had been one sided. Kelly had held the advantage the entire time until Warden used the device. The ringing had been unbearable, to the point it had brought tears to her eyes. Without it Kelly would have taken Warden down. If that was her only advantage it seemed like a simple solution. Improve her helmet to cancel sonic noises or destroy the device, simple.

“What else,” Alex inquired.  
“She’s definitely working for someone else,” Maggie said. “She was intent on taking on my officers when something, or someone, stopped her.”  
“So she’s not working alone.”

Kelly shook her head, remembering what Warden had said to her before returning her attention to Kara. “She wanted me to join her, but something in the way she said it sounded like she wasn’t the only one. Mom’s right, someone is pulling the strings.”

Alex nodded to herself. “We need a plan. I’m open to suggestions.” Everyone was silent for the longest time. None of them seemed sure of what they could do. Kelly had an idea but she knew Alex would fight her, so she didn’t speak up. Lena looked like she might have an idea, but a quick shake of the head she dismissed whatever she was thinking.

“Mom and I should handle her,” Lori spoke for the first time, earning glances from everyone.

Lena and Kara both shook their heads at their daughter.

“It’s too dangerous for you to get involved Lori,” Lena said.  
“Your mother is right,” Kara agreed. “Leave it to me.”  
“No.”

Everyone turned to her. She crossed her arms, mimicking her mother but keeping her eyes on her helmet that sat on the metal table between them. “You and Lori are a liability in this,” she said. “If aunt Lena is right, Warden will just drain your powers. Me on the other hand,” she grinned, spinning her helmet around so it faced them, “I’m a kinetic like her, and we already know I’m stronger.”

Lena nodded. “I can modify your helmet to reduce the effect of the sonic device.” She looked to Alex. Kelly’s mother didn’t say anything, deep in thought again. Kelly waited with baited breath for her mother to denounce the idea.

“She’ll need a new suit,” she said finally, “How fast can you get that done?”  
“Two days,” Lena said, “three at most.”  
“Do it.”  
“Seriously?” Kelly was shocked that Alex was agreeing to her suggestion.

Alex nodded. “I don’t seen any other options,” she sighed turning towards Kelly, “but if I let you do this you will follow my orders to the T. No questions and no going rogue, is that understood?”

Kelly grinned, barely able to stop herself from jumping up and down. “You have my word, you’re the boss.”

“Then it’s settled,” Maggie said. “Kelly takes the lead on this.”  
“Congrats kiddo, you finally get what you wanted," Alex said.  
“I won’t let you down,” she said. “I swear.”

She only hoped that she was right. The last thing she wanted to do was let her family down, or worse, let the city down. She would defend it until she was bloody and broken. She made a silent vow to herself to do everything in her power to bring the Warden, and anyone she was working with, down.

XXXXX

“So is ‘Warden’ a given name or did you pick that out yourself?” Miles loved poking the bear, even if the bear could flatten him like a pancake.

Warden let out what he could only describe as a growl. What kind of person growled? It was strange to him. Sure people made noises close to a growl but the noise that left Warden was one hundred percent a full blown growl. It was unsettling but also reassuring. It told him she was no pussy, Warden had backbone and should be feared. He liked that in a woman. None of his previous wives had ever had any backbone, and his daughter, well she had been much too young to have stood up to him, but he was sure she was as soft as with people who had raised her.

“Come on, we’re on the same team. What’s your real name? Allison? Betty? Oooh Madeline?”

Warden straighten up, to the point she stood over him. Miles wasn’t a small man by any means but Warden was a towering figure, even out of her riot gear.  
“My name is Warden,” she said. “That’s all it is and all it’s ever been. Now shut the fuck up.”

Miles raised his hands up in defense. He liked pushing his luck, but he knew when to stop. Warden was one of those serious types, unable to take even the lightest of jabs from another person. Her boss was the same way, which made him uncomfortable but only a little. He could deal with the both of them so long as he didn’t piss them off too badly.

“You don’t like me do you?”

Warden sighed, her shoulders sagging. “I don’t trust you,” she said. “I need to know you are loyal to Ms. Thorul.”

He had suspected there had been something going on between the two of them ever since he had first met them years ago, but he had no solid evidence. He honestly didn’t see the appeal. Ms. Thorul was an attractive woman, Warden was no, she was too hard and stoic. The only way Ms. Thorul would ever lower herself to that level was if the sex was mind blowing and Miles doubted it was. Though he wasn’t about to ask, that would be a great way to get himself killed.

“Look,” he started, shoving his hands in his pockets, “if she lets me get my payback I’ll do whatever she wants, even if it’s doing you.”

Red light flared up around her to the point it looked like she was on fire. He took a step back realizing he had gone too far.

“Easy, I was joking about the last part.”

The light didn’t dissipate, it only grew in intensity. “If it weren’t for the fact that we need you Donovan, I would skewer you.” She shoved him against the wall. “I don’t like you, I don’t like your type. You’re a trouble maker. We don’t need that around here. But Ms. Thorul insists that we keep you around and I have no choice but to keep it that way. But don’t push it, even she has her limits.”

“Alright, alright, damn,” he said once she released him. “You don’t have to threaten me, I got it. Just fill me in on the plan will you?”  
“Do you know anything about Flare?”  
“Is that what she’s calling herself now?” Miles couldn’t help but laugh. “Fucking pathetic.”  
“You know who she is?”  
“Don’t you?”

She didn’t, but Ms. Thorul probably did. If that was the case she probably had a reason for not telling her. Testing her maybe? Or perhaps she just wanted Donovan to get under her skin, to show her he wasn’t as much of a liability as she liked to believe. It would do her no good to confront Ms. Thorul about it. She just had to bite her lip and let Miles gloat for a bit.

“Flare is my daughter,” he said. “The one they took from me.”

It made sense. Ms. Thorul wouldn’t have been so adamant to get Miles out of prison otherwise. Warden understood what she meant about breaking the Flare, if she was traumatized from her childhood there was a possibility she could be molded to what they needed. Miles would be what pushed her over the edge. She had to admit she was impressed with the idea. Psychological torture was much more interesting than physical torture. She loved to fight but in this instance it probably wouldn’t go the way she wanted. Though she would be a little disappointed if she didn’t get another chance to fight the Flare.

“So you do have a purpose for being here,” she said shaking her head. “Just stay out of my way and we’ll get along fine.”  
“Whatever you say boss,” he grinned pushing passed her. “Whatever you say.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got this chapter done, it took awhile because of work and the worst writers block ever. Thanks for your continued support, I love writing this and am excited to keep it going. So thanks for reading, feel free to let me know what you think and enjoy.

The coffee was lukewarm, bitter, not even remotely appetizing, but it was all the department had and at the moment Maggie needed it. After a late night going over tactics with Alex an early morning call into the station was the last thing she needed. Nevertheless, there she was looking over video that a homicide detective had brought over. NCPD had been called to a scene earlier in the morning thinking it nothing but a homicide, until they received video that showed a figure cloaked in red light leaving the body. They had immediately called her, eager to hand over the case. The other departments still had little respect for the Science Division, but a few officers respected her enough to lend assistance and give over a cause they knew they were little help with.

“Does the victim have a name,” Maggie asked, rubbing her eyes.  
“No ma’am, we’re still looking into it,” one of her officers said, she couldn’t tell which.  
“Look faster,” she said glancing at the two officers in her office. “Once you find out who he is I want everything on him. Work, family, friends, everything.”  
“And the person in the tape?” the officer said, nodding towards the frozen image. “What should we do about them?”

Maggie sighed. After yesterday she wanted to stay as far out of the way of the DEO as possible. Warden was dangerous and clearly had no reservations about hurting her officers. As much as she wanted to do something about it, they didn’t exactly have the means to go after the Warden. Alex had a plan for that, Maggie would leave it to the DEO, and they would focus on the murder.

“Nothing,” she said. “We aren’t equipped to handle a something like that. We’ll leave them to Supergirl and Flare.”  
“You sure put a lot of faith in alien’s lieutenant.” Detective Cordova said.  
“If it weren’t for those ‘aliens’ detective half the people in this department would be dead,” she said, rising from her desk. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have a stack of paperwork to fill out and I’d like to get it done before lunch.”

The two officers excused themselves shutting the door behind them leaving Maggie to herself. She sat back down, rubbing her chin as she took another look at the security footage her officers had brought her. It wasn’t an accident that Warden had been caught on camera. If anything she had done it on purpose, she wanted them to know she had killed their John Doe. Something was going on and whatever it was didn’t sit well with Maggie. Against her better judgement she called Alex. NCPD would keep the case, there would be no argument about that. But the DEO needed to be aware of the situation, and she would be damned to keep information from Alex when their daughter was stuck in the middle of the whole thing.

Alex answered on the forth ring. “Danvers.” In the nineteen years they had known each other they never changed how they greeted one another over the phone. There was something nostalgic about it neither of them wanted to part with. Maggie smiled remembering how they first spoke to one another, arguing about jurisdiction.

“I’m sending you security footage pulled from a crime scene today,” Maggie said. “I’d appreciate it if you could take a look at it, see if I’m missing anything.”

She heard Alex chuckle, “I can do that,” she said. “What’s this about?”

“Warden.”

Her response was met with silence. She knew Alex was thinking and whatever it was probably wasn’t good. After they had agreed that Kelly would take point on the Warden issue they had spent the rest of the day discussing options while Kara recovered and Lena went to work on Kelly’s new suit. They had both agree to continue looking for alternate solutions to the problem, anything that could keep Kelly back from the center of everything. Especially after what Kelly told them about Warden wanting to recruit her. They both knew Kelly would never turn on them but they also knew she was keeping something from them. And that had them both worried.

“I don’t think I need to tell you to be careful,” Alex said breaking the silence. “I’ll let you know if we find anything.”  
“Thank you,” Maggie ran her hand through her hair. “I’ll keep you in the loop.”  
“Alright, love you Mags.”  
“You too,” the line went dead before she could finish so she spoke to the empty room. “Forever…”

XXXXX

Working for L-Corp could be pretty boring, especially as security. No one messed with Lena Luthor anymore, except for the occasional reporter and other CEOs, but even then that was rare. Lena was a respected business woman and member of the community. She had saved countless people with her technological innovations, people were grateful to her. And most seemed to realize and accept she was nothing like the rest of her family. There were still days when a disgruntled something-or-other showed up at the building demanding to see Lena. 

“You, hey you,” a man came up to her getting into her face, “you work here right?”

Kelly glanced down at the L-Corp logo on her t-shirt, then to the one on her work pants before looking back at the man.

“Unless I don’t know how to read, yes,” she said pointing at the patch on her shirt that read security. “Can I help you?”  
“Yeah you can help me,” he spat shoving a finger into her chest, “I want to talk to your boss.”

Kelly was easily half a foot taller than the man but he didn’t seem intimidated by her. Even after she shoved his hand away.

“Do you have an appointment?” She had half the mind to throw him out the front door even if he did. She didn’t like to be touched by random strangers, especially rude ones.  
“What do you think?”  
“I think you should come back when you have an appointment.”

She didn’t give him much time to argue before leading him to the door. “Mrs. Luthor is a busy woman, and I’m sure she would hear your grievances out if you make an appointment.” She pulled the door shut, keeping a grasp on it until the man stormed off. She breathed a sigh of relief, he had been the second person in that day demanding to see her aunt. If any more came in it would start to be a problem.

Once she was sure the man wasn’t coming back she went back over to the security desk. Her shift wasn’t over for another three hours, which didn’t seem like a lot of time but it would feel like forever.

 

An hour later she was still sitting behind the desk picking at a loose piece of wood. She found the idea of asking Lena to leave early was tempting, but she had never left early and she doubt she ever would. She was half asleep when she noticed Kara come through the front door. Kelly sat up in her seat as her aunt approached her with a bright smile. 

“Hard at work Kelly?” she teased.  
“All day everyday aunt Kara,” she said. “You here to see Lena?”  
“She’d forget to eat if I didn’t stop by during the day,” she said holding up a bag from Noonan’s.

Kelly couldn’t help but smile. “You’re a good wife.” Kara’s face lit up a blush creeping down her neck. She may have been Supergirl, hero of National City in secret, but her aunt, her real aunt was an honest to God cinnamon roll. Anything to do with Lena would have her in a puddle. Her parent’s didn’t really get like that. They were tough as nails most of the time, but there were moments Kelly remembered from when she was younger when her parents acted like two teenagers in love. They were a mystery to her sometimes unlike her aunts who told anyone who would listen how amazing the other was. There wasn’t a day that went by where Kelly didn’t sit around Lena’s office listening to her aunt gush about something Kara did. (Occasionally she would gush about Lori but Kelly usually stopped her, she had enough of an inferiority complex about her cousin).

“Head on up. If she’s busy I’m sure Jesse will let you know.” Kelly glanced off to the side noticing another guard headed her way. “I’ve gotta go meet mom at Noonan’s.”

Kara caught her as she was rounding the desk in a tight embrace, tight enough that if she had been anyone else it would have broken bones. Kelly hugged her back briefly. It wasn’t very professional of her but as her mother would sometimes say ‘fuck professionalism’. If Kara didn’t want to wait outside of Lena’s office she would have just flown up, of course not everyone knew she could do that.

“Kel, come by later would you?” Kara said as she pulled away. “I want to talk to you about a couple things.”  
“Sure,” Kelly grinned tilting her head to the side. “I’ll bring pot stickers.”

She watched as her aunt nodded then headed towards the elevator with a wave. Kelly returned the wave before she handed the keys over to the guard taking over for the late shift. He thanked her as he sat down allowing her to go ahead and leave.

XXXXX

Donovan pulled his hoodie tighter around him, his cap pulled down close to his sunglasses, to anyone on the street he looked like some random person. It was odd being out in the world again after seventeen years. He wanted nothing more than to buy a bottle of rum and get wasted, but it appeared as if Ms. Thorul was all work and no play. At least when it came to him. She seemed to let the Warden out to play whenever she pleased. He didn’t like their relationship, it made him sick to his stomach. Warden acted all big and tough, but when it came down to it she bended to Ms. Thorul’s will without question.

He lit a cigarette, something he could at least enjoy without the Warden breathing down his neck. All this recon business was boring to him. Donovan had always been a hitter, someone who hit first and asked questions later. It was why he was so well regarded with the Children of Liberty and Cadmus before that. Now Warden was the one doing all the heavy lifting. His only job was to get under Kelly’s skin by any means necessary. He had just the way of doing that, the only problem was finding the right opening. Alex Danvers needed to pay for taking his daughter away from him. He would make sure she paid her debt in full.

“Smoking is bad for your health, you know.”

Donovan turned towards a lone woman standing not too far from him. He grinned at her, blowing out a puff of smoke in her direction. “So is butting into other people’s business, darlin’.” He flicked the cigarette towards her, grinning as she started to scream obscenities at him while he walked away. 

He had to get moving if he wanted to learn anything. According to Warden, Kelly would occasionally have lunch with one of her parents at Noonan’s at least once a week. He was hoping it would be Alex instead of Maggie. He didn’t really know the detective and had nothing against her, not really. She hadn’t been there when he lost his daughter. That had been Agent Danvers and that alien of hers that had done that. He almost wanted his revenge more than he wanted to assist in Ms. Thorul’s plan. Hopefully after today he would have information he needed to devise a plan.

Donovan pushed through the crowded sidewalks pissing off a few unlucky passersby when he runs into them and doesn’t give them a second glance. It had been a long time since he had been out in the city but he noticed nothing had really changed. Sure some of the buildings were flashier than he remembered but most of it remained unchanged. The one thing he knew had changed was his daughter, if he remembered correctly she would be twenty-one now. He hadn’t seen her since she was a child in the court room, he could only imagine how different she looked now. The only evidence he had that she had changed was what he saw about Flare. His daughter was tall, much like him, and if her armor was anything to go by she was fairly well built as well.

“There you are,” he heard a voice say, “what took you so long?”

He turned to see the familiar face of Alexandra Danvers, greeting who he was sure to be Kelly. Ducking his head, he moved to the side to remain out of sight of the two but stayed within earshot.

“Yeah sorry,” Kelly waved her hand in the air, “got cornered by a couple of people outside of L-Corp.”  
“Friends?” he saw Agent Danvers wink at Kelly nudging her lightly. “Or…?  
“Nope, nope, no,” Kelly shoved her hands in her pockets blushing deeply. “Not doing this, nope.” 

Donovan had to start walking to avoid being seen by Kelly as she headed in his direction, Agent Danvers following not far behind. He felt himself gritting his teeth with clenched fists as the teasing behind him continued. It made his blood boil just hearing how comfortable that woman was with his daughter. Labeling herself as Kelly’s guardian because she didn’t understand his methods made him sick. He wanted to go after her there and then, to make her bleed, to make her beg for him to kill her. Bitch… he thought as he swallowed down his rage. It would be a mistake to attack her here where it was so open, and with Kelly standing right there nonetheless. No he would wait, bide his time until the right moment. That moment had better come fairly soon, however, he wasn’t a patient man.

He passed the front entrance to Noonan’s, bolted around the corner then turned around, accidentally running into Kelly. The impact sent a jolt through him, like he had run into a wall. She didn’t budge an inch, damn she’s strong. He turned keeping his head low mumbling an apology before skirting farther down the sidewalk. The last thing he saw was Kelly shrugging to herself before following Agent Danvers into the restaurant.

XXXXX

“What was that all about?” Alex asked her once she joined her inside Noonan’s.  
“Guess he was in a hurry,” Kelly rubbed her shoulder absently. “Hope I didn’t break his shoulder.”

Alex chuckled as she led Kelly back to their regular table. It was away from most of the commotion of the restaurant, private enough for them to discuss sensitive matters. The waitress spotted them, nodded to herself then hurried off, already aware that they would order the same thing they always did.

They sat in a comfortable silence waiting for their food and drinks to arrive. Out of Alex and Maggie, the latter was quieter when it came to Kelly but Alex could also be quiet when she wasn’t sure what to say. Luckily, for them Kelly didn’t seem to mind the silence most the time, if she needed some type of interaction she would initiate it. Today was one of those instances that she wasn’t very talkative. Alex was aware that something was bothering Kelly. She had tried to broach the subject after their meeting the other day but Kelly had shut it down immediately.

“Are you going to be there tomorrow,” Kelly asked after their food arrived. “It’s a big game…”

Alex cocked her head. Something in her daughter’s voice concerned her. Kelly seemed hesitant to ask. Almost like a child, asking for permission to do something they knew their parent would disapprove of. Alex thought about pressing her about what was wrong but upon seeing the look Kelly was giving her decided better of it.

“Of course,” Alex said, “the case can wait and unless something happens with Warden, we have no reason not to be.”  
“Cool,” Kelly said sighing in what Alex could only guess was one of relief. “Also Nick was wondering if he could come to game night this next time. Something about his mom or something.”

At this Alex chuckled even since Kelly and Nick had first met back in elementary school Nick’s parents had been an issue. Both were business people, but fairly old fashioned. When they had met Alex (and later Maggie) Nick’s mother had shared her distain about both women working in what she declared ‘traditionally men’s jobs’. Alex had scoffed at her, who thought like that anymore? His father on the other hand made it extremely clear he did not approve of his son hanging around with a girl who had two mothers. Maggie had nearly shot him at that point, only to make it clear that he could keep his opinions to himself. Nick was nothing like his parents, he made it his mission to make them disapprove of his choice in friends. He even lived with Kelly for a short period just to anger his parents.

“He knows he’s always welcome.”

They fell into a silence again as they ate, Kelly occasionally bringing up something that had happened recently making them both laugh. Alex mainly kept her conversation topic away from work, wanting to keep the mood light. It worked for awhile until Kelly suddenly looked up dropping her untouched wing back on the plate. Her eyes darted around the restaurant until they landed on a man she recognized. Sitting at the bar, cap pulled down almost over his eyes was the man that had run into hear earlier. She stiffened turning her attention back to her mother.

“You noticed him too huh?” Alex inquired nonchalantly lifting her beer to her lips. “He’s been following us since we met up.”  
“Probably ran into me on purpose,” Kelly said. “What should we do?”

Alex casually glanced over to the bar, waving at their server. Once she got her attention and caught a glimpse of the man, she turned back to Kelly.

“Once we get our check I want you to leave, head around the corner and wait for me,” Alex said. “I’m going to see if I can’t get a little information out of our friend there.”

The server handed Alex the check, which Kelly promptly stole it and dug out her wallet to pay for their bill. Once the server took it, she slapped her hands on the table meeting Alex’s eye.

“Be careful,” she said with a grin before sliding out of her seat, and leaving without a backwards glance.

Alex took a second to gather herself. She hadn’t wanted to panic Kelly so she hadn’t mentioned that she knew the man following them. Clearly, Kelly did not recognize Donovan, which made sense she had not seen the man since she was five and he was in court. If he was following them, he was up to no good and Alex planned to ensure that he knew exactly what family he was dealing with.

By the time she crossed the restaurant Donovan was already onto her, meeting her angry glare with a wide smile. It made her skin crawl and blood boil to see him so brazen. She had half a mind to shoot him right there, she even felt herself reach of her gun, which wasn’t there. A thousand possibilities ran through her head as she approached him. She could break his arm, threaten him, or break his nose. She could arrest him, though she had no legal right to, they could hold him for forty-eight hours, but it wasn’t worth it.

“Long time no see Agent Danvers,” he said. “How long has it been? Seventeen years?”  
“Sixteen and that’s still too soon.”  
“You don’t have to be a grouch y’know?” he said. “I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m just having lunch.”

Alex grabbed the back of Donovan’s neck squeezing it tightly. She bent down to speak into his ear, not wanting to be overheard. “I may not be able to do anything about you now,” her grip tighten to the point where she was sure it hurt, “but, if I see you anywhere near my daughter I will end you.”

Donovan smirked, turning his head as far as he could with her holding him. “I think you mean my daughter.”

Alex slammed his head into the counter causing the entire restaurant to go silent. Blood started to pour out of his nose, as she held him there, probably having broken his nose. “Do not test me Donovan,” she growled. “You lost every right to call her your daughter after you abused her. If I ever see you again I will personally put a bullet between your eyes.”

With that, she released him, glancing around to see shocked customers and servers alike. She handed the frozen bartender her card, apologizing for the mess, and then swiftly exited the restaurant. As the door closed she could hear Donovan’s laughter, it sounded garbled and wet because of his nose. She quickly rounded the corner, passing right by Kelly who had to jog to catch up with her quick stride.

“Hey what’s the rush,” Kelly tripped, nearly falling before she caught herself. “Mom, hey wait up what’s going on?”

Alex stopped dead in her tracks causing Kelly to run into her back. Her mom stumbled slightly before turning to face Kelly, her face red. Kelly looked at her concerned something was wrong she could feel it.  
“I need you to go home, pack whatever you need, and come to the house,” she said.  
“What? Why?” Kelly could see something on her mother’s face, something she wasn’t telling her. “Mom what’s wrong?  
“Please Kelly, just listen to me, get your stuff get to the house, I want you to stay there for a little while,” Alex said reaching out to grip Kelly’s shoulder. “I can explain later, but can you do this for me?”

Kelly nodded. “Yeah, yeah of course.” She paused, glancing behind her. “What about cornflake?”

“What’s a cornflake?”  
“My cat,” she said. “Will Titan be okay with him?”

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle, bringing her daughter in to a tight hug which she returned. “I think you should worry more about Maggie, she’s not a fan of cats.”

“I’ll be by in a couple hours,” she said. “Just promise to tell me what’s going on.”  
“I promise,” Alex agreed. “Now go. I’ll see you soon.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note this chapter is a little different than other chapters. Hopefully it only adds to the story.
> 
> Yay another chapter. Work has been killing me the past few weeks which is why it took so long. But it's finally here. Sorry for any typos I really had no time to edit. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think and enjoy.

            When Maggie arrived home she found the front door unlocked and upon farther investigation found Alex on the couch halfway through a bottle of whiskey. She dropped her bag by the door, ignoring the dog pawing at her foot to go over to her wife, who looked horrible. Alex barely acknowledged her when she sat down next to her, she just finished off her glass and set it aside, collapsing back into the cushions.

 “Lunch with Kelly that bad?”

            Alex shook her head leaning forward to pour another glass, thought better of it, then sat back in the couch. Maggie shifted to pull her wife into her lap. When Alex got like this there wasn’t much she could do but listen to whatever she had to say and keep her from polishing off whatever bottle she was drinking.

 “Babe what’s going on?”

            Alex turned so she could bury her face in Maggie’s shoulder, muttering something that her wife couldn’t make out. Maggie nudged Alex to lift her head off her shoulder.

 “Miles Donovan is stalking Kelly,” Alex repeated. “Broke his nose today at lunch.”

            Maggie had to pinch the bridge of her nose. “One of these days you’re going to get us banned.” She hugged Alex tight, she didn’t like what she was hearing. Donovan had been a concern earlier, but now he was becoming a huge problem. If he was willing to follow Kelly while she was with Alex, and in a public space, no telling how far he would go.

 “I’m scared Maggie,” Alex admitted. “I know I shouldn’t be but…Donovan is dangerous and you remember how Kelly reacted when we told her about his possible release. What the hell is she going to do when she actually sees him?”

 “You’re worried she’ll do something to him?”

            Alex shook her head, reaching for the empty glass and the bottle. She poured almost half a glass before handing it to Maggie. “I’m afraid he’ll do something to her,” she said. “You weren’t there when we first found her back then, you didn’t see how scared she was. I honestly think if they came in contact Kelly would have a break down. The trauma she went through isn’t something a child grows out of.”

            She was right, Maggie hadn’t been there. Alex had adopted Kelly during the time they had been broken up. Maggie hadn’t come into the picture until a year later. She had seen how reserved Kelly was but according to Alex she had been much better than when she first came to live with Alex. Every year after that had been an improvement over the last, Kelly who was she was today in no small part thanks to Alex.

 “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

            Alex took a deep breath, shifting against Maggie. She hadn’t thought about that day in years. It had been one she wanted to forget. That day may have given her Kelly, but it also left her with memories she wish she didn’t have.

 “It was a really, really bad day…” she started.

 

_Alex stood by Kara’s side, gun in her hands, waiting for the other agents go get into position. They had little information on Miles Donovan but he was a high ranking member of the Children of Liberty and now that they had Ben Lockwood in custody they were slowly taking down the other members of the terrorist cell. According to Lockwood, Donovan lived with his wife and daughter and was currently unemployed. They also discovered he had ties to Cadmus, though information on his time with Cadmus was slight. From what Alex could tell he was a dangerous man and needed to be brought into custody unlike some of the other members of the Children of Liberty who were strictly anti-alien to be anti-alien._

_“Do it,” she gave Kara the order._

_Kara nodded, kicking in the door. The wood splintered under the force, the hinges tearing from the frame. Alex entered first, clearing the corners, even though she didn’t need to with Kara behind her. Rounding the corner into what she assumed was the family room she found Donovan reclined in his chair a beer in his hand, looking unconcerned about Supergirl and a dozen agents storming into his home._

_“Hands where I can see them Donovan,” Alex said moving forward until she was standing between him and the TV. “Is there anyone else in the house?”_

_“Wife and the kid are out, it’s just me.”_

_Alex turned to a couple of her agents, “Search the house, leave nothing unturned.” The agents nodded, leaving the room to begin their search. Alex remained in the room with Kara, two other agents and Donovan._

_“Don’t you guys need a warrant or something,” Donovan asked sitting up in his chair._

_“We have both an arrest warrant and one to search the house,” Alex said, glancing around, something was off she could feel it._

_“What, you arrest Lockwood and just come after the rest of us?” he scoffed tossing his empty beer can to the side. “You don’t have shit.”_

_“Yeah, well we’ll see,” she said. “You guys find anything?”_

_One of her agent’s peaked around the corner shaking his head. “Place is clear Director, want us to keep looking?” Alex nodded to him and he left. She noticed a closet off to the side no one had checked yet. She waved to one of the remaining agents to check it out. He went over to it twisted the knob a few time before turning to her and shaking his head._

_“Locked.”_

_“That door have a key,” she asked Donovan._

_“No,” he said, “I don’t even know what the door is to.”_

_“Supergirl,” Alex nodded to the door._

_Her sister went to it with no hesitation. A silence stretched over the room as Alex waited for Kara to examine the closet. After a moment Kara turned to her with a look that made Alex’s heart skip a beat._

_“There’s someone in there,” she said._

_Alex grabbed Donovan’s shirt, forcefully pulling him out of his seat so she could shove him towards the door. “Lie to me again and I’ll start breaking fingers,” she threatened as he got to his knees. “Where is the key?”_

_Donovan spit at her. “Fuck you.” Alex grabbed his shirt again, pulling him closer before shoving him back to the floor._

_“Get him in cuffs,” she ordered. “Supergirl take care of the door.”_

_Two of her agents moved in on Donovan, one forcing him to his feet, the other cuffing him. Once he was restrained the lead him out of the room, leaving Alex alone with Kara. She waited for her sister to crush the knob with little effort. Kara tossed the broken knob aside but waited to open the door until Alex nodded at her with her gun raised. Slowly she pulled the door outward. Light flooded in, Alex’s finger went to the trigger, but suddenly Kara was in front of her, blocking her from whoever was in the closet._

_“Alex put the gun down, now.” Kara’s voice had a sense of urgency to it, one Alex had never heard before, but she listened, holstering her gun._

_“Supergirl, what is it?”_

_Kara reached for the door frame, gripping it so tightly it cracked under her finger tips. Alex grabbed her sister’s shoulder, squeezing it in an effort to get her to move. She could feel how tense the Kryptonian was, which scared her. Alex had never seen Kara like this. Something was very wrong. Alex nudged her sister again, this time she moved out of the way allowing Alex to see what had gotten her so upset._

_Alex clenched her fist, turning so fast towards Donovan she felt a little light headed. The two agent’s holding Donovan shrunk back, barely getting out of the way before Alex grabbed Donovan, throwing him against the wall._

_“What the fuck is wrong with you?!”She slammed his head against the wall, barely stopping herself from pulling her gun on him. “You piece of shit!”_

_“Director!”_

_Suddenly Supergirl was next to her, looming over the two agents. She reached forward, peeling Alex’s hands away from Donovan. When she spoke her voice was low and dangerous. “Go to the girl, I’ll take care of him.”_

_Alex didn’t move immediately, her blood was boiling beneath her skin. She felt like she did when she was interrogating the Cadmus agent trying to find her father. If she had been alone with Donovan he would have been dead by the time anyone could stop her. She would have to settle with hitting him as hard as she could. Which she did, a fierce right hook to the jaw. He spit out blood before Kara shoved her away._

_“Alex now.”_

_This time she listened, leaving Kara with the two agents and Donovan. She made her way back over to the closet, willing herself to calm down. This girl, what was her name? Kelly? Yes Kelly, Kelly Donovan, would be terrified. She needed to be calm for this girl. It pissed her off that she had been locked in a pitch black closet for Rao knows how long. She knelt down at the closet door careful to not scare the girl even more._

_“Hey there,” she said. “You’re safe now.”_

_Kelly huddled further into the closet, putting as much space between her and Alex as possible. She couldn’t have been more than four years old. Alex heart ached for her, for what she might have gone through._

_“Do you want to come out?”_

_She shook her head. Alex sighed, this wasn’t going to be easy. “You’re scared of him aren’t you? I would be too.” Kelly looked up at her and Alex smiled. “But we have something he doesn’t, come here I’ll show you.” Alex beckoned her to come forward, and after a moment’s hesitation Kelly crawled over to her. Good, this was good, Alex thought to herself. She pointed over to Supergirl who was now standing near the entryway to the living room, keeping her distance._

_“You know who that is right?”_

_Kelly nodded, “Supergirl?”_

_“That’s right,” Alex said. “She’s a really good friend of mine. And like me she’s here to make sure you’re safe from your dad.”_

_“You promise?”_

_Alex nodded, holding out her hand for Kelly to take. “As long as I’m here no one will ever hurt you again, I promise.” She waited for what seemed like forever before Kelly finally took her hand allowing Alex to bring her out into the living room. She nodded to Kara who nodded back, understanding the unspoken words. Alex would take care of Kelly until the returned to the DEO and they got ahold of either her mother or CPS._

 

            Maggie heard Alex stifle a sob. She never imagined how difficult this would be for her wife to explain to her. Alex never talked about the Donovan case which was, apparently, for good reason. It had stuck with her after all these years. Maggie knew Alex had rarely worked with kids over her years at the DEO but the few times she had it had always been cases she came home and would drink herself to oblivion. She supposed the same had happened when she first took Kelly in, but perhaps she hadn’t. Perhaps Kelly had been different and the reason it hurt Alex so much was because Kelly was more than just a case, Kelly was her daughter.

 “It’s okay Alex,” Maggie assured her, gently kissing the top of her wife’s head. “You don’t have to continue.”

 “No,” Alex said stubbornly. “There’s more to it. More you should know about Donovan’s arrest and how I ended up with Kelly…”

 “I think I know how you ended up with Kelly,” Maggie said. “You’re too damn good to people. You saw a girl who needed help and you gave her everything.”

 “And yet I feel like I failed.”

 “You could never fail at being her mother Alex.”

            Alex nodded, though Maggie didn’t think she believed her. Maggie set her drink aside to hold Alex tighter. If Alex wouldn’t believe her that was fine, but she needed to know Maggie was right there with her and always would be. Curling back into Maggie, Alex continued with her story.

 

_Kelly’s grip on her hand as they walked through the DEO was almost painful. She was as close to Alex as she could be without Alex actually carrying her. Donovan had already been taken to an interrogation room by two of Alex’s agents, Alex was going to let him sweat it out for a while, while she spoke to Kelly. She took the girl to the meeting room, figuring it would be better than an interrogation room. At this point Kelly finally let go of her hand allowing Alex to left her into the chair. Alex pulled up her own chair, sitting down next to her._

_“Can you tell me where your mom is?”_

_“Daddy said she left and wasn’t gonna come back,” Kelly said._

_Alex sighed, she would have to ask Donovan about his wife’s whereabouts. There wasn’t much Alex could do with Kelly at this point. She would have to wait for the agent from Child Protective Services. Still she didn’t want to leave Kelly alone just yet._

_“Kelly why did your dad have you locked in that closet?”_

_Kelly stared at her hands, either not willing to or afraid to meet Alex’s eye. Alex reached over to her, patting her knee. “It’s okay kiddo you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” She hugged herself tightly before looking up at Alex._

_“You won’t be mad if I show you?”_

_“No, of course not,” Alex assured her. Show her what? Alex wondered._

_Kelly held out her hands, her face tight with concentration. Alex sat back in her seat watching in awe as small strands of golden light began to dance around the girl’s fingers. She was speechless, Kelly was a meta-human, and by the growing intensity of the ropes around her fingers a strong one. Alex had never seen anything like it in all her years at the DEO, a meta capable of manipulating light particles. And a four year old doing it with little difficulty nonetheless. The light disappeared, snapping her back to attention._

_“Does anyone else know about this?”_

_“Just my daddy,” Kelly said._

_“Alright,” Alex said ruffling Kelly’s hair. “Are you hungry? Do you like chicken nuggets? I could get you some?”_

_Kelly’s face lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. “Alright, think you’ll be okay in here by yourself for a few minutes? I have to go talk to your dad, but as soon as Supergirl come back with your lunch she’ll stay with you until I get back. Okay?” Kelly nodded again, this time slower, like she didn’t really want Alex to go. Truth be told she didn’t want to leave, but she had to, she had a job to do._

_She left Kelly with a smile, posting an agent nearby while she went to the interrogation room where Donovan was being held. When she arrived she found her sister standing outside the room fuming. Kara turned to her almost pleading with her._

_“Please tell me I can get out of here,” she said._

_“The kid is hungry, I promised her nuggets, and that you’d sit with her while I talk to her dad,” Alex informed her. “Listen Kelly is a meta-human, I’m going to go hard on him okay? Have Brainy keep everyone out of here, please.”_

_“No problem.”_

_Kara disappeared in a snap, leaving Alex to do what she did best. She cracked her knuckles and took a deep breath. Being levelheaded was important. Donovan didn’t seem to be bothered by brute strength, in fact he seemed to enjoy it. It sent a shiver down her spine. Donovan was a sick bastard, for more than one reason. It was now or never._

_“Took you long enough,” Donovan growled the second she entered the room._

_“Wasn’t really in a hurry to talk to you again,” she said, taking a set across the table from him. “I was actually talking to your daughter. Care to explain to me where your wife is?”_

_Donovan tried to cross his arms only to be stopped by the restraints he still wore. Grimacing he dropped his hands to the table. “Bitch left me when the kid was two,” he said. “Who could blame her the kid is a freak.”_

_Alex slammed her fists into the table, making Donovan flinch. “That kid is your daughter,” she said her voice extremely low. “You locked her in a closet. Why?” Even if he gave her a straight answer as to why exactly he locked her in there she would never understand his motives. He clearly hated the idea of Kelly being different, hated the fact that her mother left him alone with her, but there were so many other options open to him. What reasoning could he possibly have for abusing a four year old who had done nothing wrong?_

_Donovan leaned forward a grin spreading across his face. “She’s weak, useless, or so I thought,” he said watching Alex closely. “Someone pointed out the benefit of a kid like her, what it could do for the Children of Liberty, if she were to be molded properly.”_

_“Molded?” Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “She’s four.”_

_“When I was her age I was tough, didn’t cry, didn’t complain,” he said. “My dad use to hit me, that doesn’t work with a child. You hit a kid sooner or later their pent up rage is gonna escape and they’re going to snap.”_

_He snapped his fingers. “No you have to do it differently, tear them down, build them back up. That’s all I am guilty of. By the time she’s ten that girl is going to be a perfect member of the Children of Liberty. She’ll thank me.”_

_Alex was around the table in a second, her gun drawn, pushed painfully against his jaw. She was dangerously close to shooting him. “Do you have any idea the kind of trauma you have put that girl through,” she shouted her face turning red. “That’s not something a child grows out of, not something a child can recover from without years of therapy. Is that what you want?”_

_She was surprised that he started shaking with laughter. He wasn’t intimidated by her in the least. In fact he was enjoying tormenting her. Alex hit him with the butt of her pistol, unable to hold herself back._

_“You don’t scare me Director…director what? I never got your name.” He grinned, his teeth red with blood. “Women like you, you’ve got some bite, but not much. Give me fifteen minutes without these restraints, you’ll see exactly what I can do.”_

_Alex hit him again, then again and again, the whole time he continued laughing. It continued until she kicked over his chair and put a boot to his throat. “I promise you, you will never go near that girl again, you’re going to spend the rest of your life in a small cell, rotting away, and no one will care.” She removed her foot, storming out of the room. She was livid, if she didn’t get out of there she would kill him._

_“Director Danvers,” an agent came up to her, pausing when he saw her clenched teeth. “Jason Hawthorne is here from CPS, he wants to talk with you.”_

_“Have him met me upstairs, I need a minute to decompress.”_

_“Yes ma’am.”_

_She watched the agent jog off. Alex didn’t follow, instead turning and heading in the opposite directions towards the training room. Her knuckles were bloody and sore from hitting Donovan. It hurt enough that she suspected she had cracked or even broken one of her bones. She couldn’t meet with Hawthorne with a bloody hand, it wouldn’t look good for her or the DEO if an outsider saw her with busted knuckles. She headed towards the bathroom to wash her hands and make herself presentable to speak with Hawthorne._

_The ice cold water felt soothing against the inflamed skin of her knuckles. She was kicking herself for losing control with a suspect again. It was beneath her to do something so reckless. They weren’t keeping custody of him, he would be turned over to NCPD once they finished interrogating him, then he would be sent to Albatross Bay Prison to await trial and sentencing. Her actions put that at risk, put the four year old girl sitting in the conference room at risk. Yet she didn’t regret her actions in the slightest. Donovan needed to be knocked down a few pegs, they could explain away his injuries later._

_Fifteen minutes later Alex extended her hand to Hawthorne, which he gladly accepted. His grip hurt, not because he held her hand to tight. She would need to get her hand checked after she spoke with him about Kelly._

_“Good news is I found a home willing to take the girl,” he said choosing not to beat around the bush._

_Alex grimaced. The details that she had given her agents to explain to CPS had changed greatly. Placing a normal child was fairly simple, as simple as rehoming a child could be. Meta-humans and aliens were a whole other story, because of the recent increase in hate crimes against aliens thanks to the Children of Liberty, people weren’t willing to take them in. Even CPS didn’t like to deal with them in fear of retaliation from the Children._

_“About that,” she said hesitantly. Hawthorne’s brow creased. “There’s been a development. I could explain it but it might be easier to just show you.”_

_Hawthorne nodded waving for her to lead. “By all means Director,” he sounded like he was mocking her. Alex knew better, she had dealt with Hawthorne before. He was friendly and to most women excluding her very charming. What Alex liked most about him was his willingness to allow her leeway with cases he was involved, which was only a handful but she preferred working together rather than against one another._

_She smiled as she passed him, leading her back to the meeting room where she had left Kelly. The agent she had posted there was gone, in his place was Supergirl, having a one sided conversation. Kelly looked interested in what Kara was saying but Alex could tell that the girl had retreated back into herself._

_Kara noticed her before she had the chance to knock, beckoning her and Hawthorne in. She pulled Alex to her, keeping her voice low so only Alex could hear. “She ate but she won’t talk to me, keeps avoiding eye contact.” Kara glanced at Kelly and a now kneeling Hawthorne. “She asked for you a couple of times.” Alex nodded squeezing her sister’s shoulder._

_“Go see Lena, blow off some steam, whatever you need to do,” she said. “I’ll handle the rest of this.”_

_“You need a break to Alex.”_

_Alex winked at her, grinning. “I’ll take a break when I know she’s going to be alright.”_

_Sensing she wasn’t going to win the argument Kara left. Once she was gone Alex went back to Kelly, who finally looked up from the toy she was playing with. Alex smiled._

_“Kelly this is my friend Jason, he’s here to help you okay?”_

_Kelly nodded, but Alex wondered if she actually understood._

_“Hi Kelly,” Hawthorne made no attempt to touch the girl, instead he kept his hands on his knees while he examined her._

_“Hi…”_

_“Kelly do you think you could show Jason what you showed me?”_

_When Kelly shook her head Alex leaned down to meet her eye. “You aren’t in trouble; he just needs to see what you showed me.”_

_Kelly slowly nodded, extending her hands out much like she did for Alex. Hawthorne watched her with interest as the same strands of light started to twist around her fingers. Alex could see he was holding his breath and knew he was thinking the same thing as her. They weren’t going to find a foster home that would take her. As the light disappeared Hawthorne rose to his feet._

_“Can I speak with you for a moment Director?”_

_“Of course,” Alex said rising with him. “I’ll be right back, Kelly.”_

_“Okay…”_

_Hawthorne left with Alex. “What am I supposed to now?” he said beginning to pace. “You couldn’t have told me this earlier? Goddamnit Alex.”_

_“I didn’t know Jason,” she defended herself. “She showed me right before you arrived.”_

_Alex grabbed his shoulder forcing him to stop. “There has to be something you can do.” He shook his head; he’d called in a lot of favors already. No one was going to take her. Alex grimaced, there was no family to speak of, besides Donovan, to take Kelly. If people weren’t so damned stupid there wouldn’t be a problem._

_“What if I took her?” the thought was sudden, surprising even Alex._

_“You’re a foster parent?”_

_“No,” she said. Did she really want this? One glance at Kelly sitting alone told her yes. “But I’m in the process of adopting a child. I could adopt her.”_

_“It’s not that simple,” he argued, but she could tell he was considering it._

_“Call in some favors, I’ll owe you,” she said._

_He sighed, glancing at the girl on the other side of the glass wall. “Give me an hour. If you're serious about this, I’ll do it. But realize there is no going back.”_

_“She shouldn’t have to suffer because of what Ben Lockwood started, none of them should.”_

_“Alright Director,” he conceded. “Let me see what I can do.”_

            Maggie knew the rest of what happened, Jason Hawthorne had been instrumental in pushing the adoption through. She knew Alex was done talking when he wife sat up to grab the bottle of whiskey. She offered some to Maggie, who accepted it, before drinking straight from the bottle.

 “I promised her she’d be safe,” she said.

 “You couldn’t have known this would happen,” Maggie said rubbing Alex’s shoulders.

            Alex stiffened. Maggie was wrong, she had always known that he would never let Kelly go, that he would do anything to take Kelly away from her. Donovan was relentless, for years he tried to get paroled and for years he was denied. Something had changed, someone had pulled strings to get him released and it was her fault.

 “I should have killed him back then.”

            Maggie pulled her back so her back was flush with Maggie’s chest. Alex stiffened felling how tense her wife was. For years both had been against lethal force, it wasn’t the answer. But Alex couldn’t help but feel differently about Donovan, he wouldn’t stop until he was dead or he had one. There was no other option, Alex could see that, she could only hope Maggie did as well.

 “Then that’s what we do.”

 “What?” Alex was shocked to hear what Maggie was implying.

 “I don’t like it, but you’re right,” Maggie admitted. “He’ll keep coming after her, and the next time he does…it’ll be the last.”

XXXXX

            Kelly hadn’t expected it to take her so long to get over to her parent’s house. She would have been there over an hour ago if the cat hadn’t run off when she had returned to her apartment. She wasn’t used to wrangling cats, and hers had made it as difficult as possible to catch. When she finally did catch the cat half an hour had passed, packing took another half an hour and once she was on the way she had decided to get pizza. She figured her parents would want something for dinner and pizza was the best option.

            When she opened the door to the house she was greeted by her parent’s dog but not her parents. She thought at least one of them would be there. “Anyone here?” When she received no response she dropped her bags by the door, carefully setting the cat cage beside it. Titan was suddenly much more interested in the cat than her, which she was fine with. She left the two animals there while she went to look for her parents.

 “Mom? Maggie? Hello?”

            Still no response. At first she panicked, her mind going to the worst case scenario before she managed to calm herself. No, Alex probably forgot she was coming over. Kelly swallowed hard, they had better not be where she suspected they were. Turning the corner, she noted their bedroom door was wide open. She let out a breath of relief. Not in the bed room. So where were they?

            She returned to the front room. Titan was still sniffing around the cat, uninterested in the pizza two feet to the left of him. Where the hell were her parents?

 “Guys?”

            Again no answer, but she did hear someone snoring. Turning towards the family room. On the couch she saw both her parents sound asleep. She hadn’t been completely wrong about what they were doing; they had definitely been up to something. Kelly also noticed the nearly empty bottle of whiskey next to them. She went over, grabbing a blanket to drape over them. They looked peaceful and Kelly didn’t want bother them. She would clean up the area as quietly as she could, have some dinner then go to her room. They could talk when they got up.

            She went back to gather her things once the whiskey was put away and the pizza was in the fridge. Titan had lost interest in the cat by then, allowing Kelly to move everything without hindrance. By the fridge she left a note for her parents in case they didn’t wake up until after she fell asleep.

_Figured you guys would be hungry, pizza is in the fridge, didn’t want to wake you. Next time I’ll call beforehand._

_-Kelly._


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is,.had fun with this one. Hope you do too. Thanks for reading everyone.

            Alex had to admit that Kelly was taking the news of her father’s release much better than she expected. It had honestly scared her more that Kelly sat across from her calmly drinking a cup of coffee than if she had started throwing things or whatever else Alex had thought she’d do. Maggie even looked concerned at their daughter’s reaction to the news. They both knew, when it came to Kelly, any reaction was better than no reaction. No reaction meant she was internalizing which would come back later.

 “Are you okay,” Alex asked carefully.

 “I’m fine,” Kelly said setting her coffee down. “I’m screaming on the inside, but other than that I’m fine.”

 “Are you sure?” Maggie chimed in.

 “Nothing I can do now,” she said with a shrug. “Dad is out and just happens to be stalking me. Not to mention the kinetic who doesn’t want me dead but is still after me. Just another Saturday right?”

            Alex glanced at Maggie, still concerned but unable to figure out what to do. Kelly was a very emotional person; she had the tendency to act on those emotions before thinking her actions through. What was happening now was a complete three-sixty on how she usually acted. It was almost as if she was sedated. Then it hit Alex. She went over to the liquor cabinet opened it, glanced around, then closed it.

 “Kelly how much whiskey is in that coffee?”

 “A lot,” Kelly admitted. “After yesterday I figured something was up and it was either you two were separating or something was up with my dad. Both give me a lot of anxiety and I can’t function when I’m anxious.”

            It was then that Alex noticed the lump on Kelly’s shoulder. She hadn’t noticed it earlier because she hadn’t been looking. Because of her metabolism, Kelly couldn’t get drunk off of regular alcohol, to get around that she would wear a power dampener whenever she wanted to get drunk. Neither of her parents approved of it but they both had to admit it was a smart idea. If she needed to sober up quickly, she just turned the dampener off.

            Maggie threw her hands up. “What is with everyone lately? Who started this whole thing about us getting separated?” It was the second time her daughter had brought it up and the fifth time she had heard it from different people.

 “You two have been fighting a lot.”

 “Arguing,” Maggie said. “We’ve been arguing, like every married adult does. It happens when a government agency steps over their jurisdiction constantly.”

 “Can we not start this right now?” Alex looked annoyed at the sudden change in topic. “We’re looking into what we can do about Donovan.”

            She shared a knowing glance with Maggie. It was best that they didn’t let Kelly know what exactly they had in mind. They didn’t think she would try to stop them, they just wanted to keep her out of any potential fallout.

 “I know,” Kelly said, grinning. “You promised he’d never hurt me again, I know you meant it.”

            Alex looked away, _so she did remember…_ Kelly took notice of her mom’s response. She rose, swaying slightly before she removed the dampener from her shoulder. Alex looked up at this point, surprised when Kelly hugged her.

 “Us Danvers protect each other right?” she said, “I know you’ll do everything to look out for me, even though you don’t need to anymore.”

            Kelly didn’t let go until Alex hugged her back, and after a moment Maggie joined them. Their daughter was right, they would protect each other, no matter what. After a few minutes their group hug broke off. Kelly went straight for her coffee, chugging it before setting the glass in the sink.

 “I’ve got to get to work,” she said. “I’ll see you at the game okay?”

            Alex and Maggie waved as she left in a hurry. Once she was gone Maggie turned to Alex, her arms crossed over her chest.

 “How did you know she had whiskey in her coffee?”

            Alex sighed, “Too much like her mother.” Was the only answer she could give Maggie. Luckily, her wife seem to accept the answer because she grabbed the whiskey bottle offering it to Alex.

 “I’m off today and I know you are too,” she said. “Have a drink with me.”

 “I thought you’d never ask.”

XXXXX

            Lena yawned. Kara had kept her up all night. It had been one of the few times Lori had spent the night at a friends and her wife had decided to take advantage of that. Lena didn’t mind of course, but showing up at a meeting with her investors completely sore and exhausted had been something she had wanted to avoid. Of course, Kara hadn’t stopped there, having come by after the meeting sending Lena’s assistant running, her face red as a tomato. Now her assistant was peaking her head inside the door looking everywhere but at Lena.

 “Your niece is here to see you Mrs. Luthor.”

            Kelly pushed pass Jesse into the office. “Sorry to barge in,” she said as soon as Jesse left. “I wanted to see how the suit was coming along.”

            Lena chuckled; none of the Danvers had any patience. She had promised Alex it would take a couple of days to get the suit upgrade done but it wasn’t nearly finished yet. Lena had only had time to finish half of the suit. If she hadn’t started from scratch it would have been done, but Kelly needed something specific. Her old armor had been modified riot gear, it hadn’t been nearly enough. The new suit was Nth metal, light and powerful, it would protect her better than the old stuff. But again it wasn’t finished.

 “It isn’t done.”

 “Can I still see it?”

 “Sure,” Lena rose from her desk. “Come with me.”

            Kelly allowed herself to be lead into the elevator. She knew Lena kept her secret projects in her lab in the basement but she had never actually been there. From what she understood the lab was where Lena had developed the Haranel she used to save Kelly way back when. She had also tried to cure a family friend Samantha Arias or her unfortunate supervillain parasite as Kelly liked to call it. Kelly supposed if Lena ever went bad she already had a secret layer that only she and Kara had access to. However, Kelly could probably break in if she really wanted to.

 “You ever think about supervillany,” Kelly asked half joking. “You’re already half way there with the secret lab. And like any good villain you have the super hero under your thumb.”

 “Good guys have secret hideouts to,” Lena said punching in the code to the lab.

 “I don’t think the Fortress of Solitude counts.”

            Lena smirked leading Kelly farther into the lab. “Superman and Supergirl may have interesting pieces of equipment in the Fortress. But me? Well I have the best toys.” She stopped just short of an armor stand. It stood out against the rest of the lab with its, well the colors were an acquired taste. A combination Kelly loved but the rest of her family found hard to look at. Kelly circled around it, examining it closely.

 “This looks awesome.”

 “I also fixed your helmet,” Lena picked up the helmet handing it to Kelly who immediately slid it on.

 “So sonic devices…”

 “Won’t be a problem,” Lena said. “If I had more time I could finish the suit more completely but time is of the essence. Just be careful.”

            Kelly ran her hand over the chest plate, grinning from ear to ear. She was always impressed with the other super’s costume. Kara’s upgraded suit was tough but light and stylish (ever since she switched to pants). James was basic but had been the inspiration for hers, his was practical and it just looked cool. Even Nia had an impressive costume. Each one of them had had help putting it together, whether it be from Brainy, Lena or her uncle Winn who she had never met. She had built hers on her own, but now she finally was up there with the rest of them.

 “Have I ever told you you’re my favorite aunt?” she removed her helmet to look at Lena. “Cause you are.”

 “Just remember this suit doesn’t make you invincible. You can still get hurt, especially against Warden,” Lena warned her. “I can’t exactly test how well the suit holds up to solid light.”

            Kelly held up a balled fist. Strands of light started to twist around it bathing her face in a light glow. “Who says you can’t?” The light slowly began to take shape, stitching itself together as it elongated into a spear. Lena was always impressed by Kelly’s ability to manipulate light energy, she was so adept at it, and it was a wonder why she wasn’t stronger.

 “Where do you want me to hit it?”

 “Doesn’t matter,” Lena said taking a step back in case the bolt came anywhere near her.

            The light spear left her hand as quickly as it had formed, it moved so fast Lena could barely keep her eyes on it. The suit buckled under the pressure of the spear but when it looked like it would tear apart the light sparked off it. The wall behind the suit exploded outward sending concrete debris in all directions. Lena ducked only to find Kelly had leapt in front of her and formed a barrier of light between them and the wall. After a moment, the barrier fell leaving the two of them to stand in the aftermath.

 “I know my aim isn’t that bad,” Kelly said sheepishly.

 “It isn’t, the suit worked.”

 “Ah good…” Kelly said rubbing her neck. “Do you want me to fix that?”

 “No,” Lena sighed, “Don’t worry about it.”

            She went over to the suit, grasping the wrist. Kelly watched as the suit collapsed down. When it had disappeared completely Lena removed a metal bracelet from the stand bringing it over to Kelly. She took it turning it over in her hands. It was inconspicuous looking like a metal bracelet. She knew Barry Allen had a ring that held his suit, this bracelet apparently offered the same convenience on a slightly larger scale.

 “Take good care of that. If we have time, I’ll try to finish the rest of it. Just remember it’s a prototype. It may not be as strong as it should be.”

            Kelly hugged her, thanking her for the suit. Lena returned the hug with a smile. “You’re the best,” Kelly said as she started towards the elevator. “I mean it.” And just like that she was gone, leaving Lena alone in the lab.

XXXXX

            True to their word her parents showed up at her game. It was rare that they could both make it. One of them always seemed to get called out on a case or attack. Kelly wasn’t really bothered by it, her parents had always made time for her games when she was younger. College was different, it wasn’t like she could look up in the crowd and find her parents (she could, but never did). Today they were seated fairly close to the penalty box, a place Kelly spent a fair amount of time, but not as much as some of the other guys.

            Nick skated up to her patting her hard on the back. She grunted in pain, with the dampener on anything Nick did hurt ten times more. “You ready for this,” he asked, his arm wrapping around her shoulder, pulling her off balance. She shoved at him but her refused to let go.

 “I’d be more ready if you let me go,” she said shoving him again.

            This time he let go, grinning from ear to ear. “So feisty, I love it.” She shoved him again, her temptation to beat him with her stick growing. Nick liked to tease her before a big game, it was his way to get her focused. The other guys on the team liked to tease her as well, not to the extent that Nick did, they all knew she would kick their asses if they did. Nick only got away with it because he had known Kelly for so long.

 “Shut up,” she said. “We have a game to win.”

 

            Kelly took a hard hit from one of the other players. The impact was so rough it knocked her off her feet. There was an echo throughout the stadium as onlookers watched the hit. Alex and Maggie both flinched, Kelly would be feeling that impact for a while. Kelly remained down for a fraction of a second longer before rolling over and getting up with some help from her teammate. One of them was Nick who checked to make sure she was okay. Kelly waved him off, cracking her neck. It had hurt but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep her down.

            Everything went by in slow motion, the puck came towards her as they won control, she turned to pass it, getting distracted again by a face in the crowd. _It was him, he was there._ The puck was gone, she cursed under her breath, breaking away to chase down the guy who had control of the puck. She slammed into him setting the puck free for one of her teammates to gather. Again, she broke away from him, keeping wide to give her teammate someone to pass to. Suddenly her head crashed into the Plexiglas barrier sending a jolt down her spine. A heartbeat later, her fist flew out catching the side of another player’s helmet. That was when the fight broke out, she threw a punch only to get one back, whistles were blown and suddenly she was on her way to the penalty box. The whole incident only lasted a few seconds

            She collapsed on the bench, unable to do anything about the man she kept seeing in the crowd. When she turned around, she spotted her parents and beckoned for one of them to come closer. Alex said something to Maggie before making her way over to the penalty box; they only had a few seconds before people started getting mad.

 “He’s here,” Kelly said knowing Alex probably couldn’t hear her. “My dad is here.”

            Alex glanced around searching for Donovan, she didn’t see him but she was sure her daughter had. “I’ll handle it.” Kelly nodded watching as Alex left, leaning down to say something to Maggie before disappearing up the stands. With it out of her hands, unable to do anything, Kelly turned her attention back to the game.

 

            Alex had no clue how she was going to find Donovan. The stadium was packed full of people and he didn’t stand out much in the crowd, aside from his broken nose. She figured her best chance was to check with security, even if they couldn’t identify him they might lend her some insight that was beneficial. Pushing through the crowds of people standing in line for concessions or bathrooms, Alex headed towards where she thought she might find a security guard. Turning the corner, she found something better, a uniformed officer, and one she knew.

 “Sara, got a minute,” Alex asked deciding it was better to approach directly.

            Sara turned, grinning once she recognized who exactly was calling to her. “Long time no see Alex,” she said. “Is everything okay?” Alex took ahold of Sara’s elbow and led her to a less populated area.

 “Have you seen this man at all tonight?” Alex handed Sara her phone, a picture of Donovan’s mugshot on the screen. “We’re looking for him and have reason to believe he’s here.”

            Sara took the phone from Alex to examine it closer before handing it back her head shaking. “I don’t sorry,” she said, “Do we need to shut this place down?” Alex shook her head quickly.

 “No, that won’t do us any good, I just need to find him,” Alex said. “Do me a favor and keep security off me, I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

 “I’ll do what I can, but you’ll owe me for this,” she said.

 “I know, thanks Sara,” she said. “Call me if you see anything.”

            Alex left Sara on her own; she knew that Sara was capable of following her directions. She was one of the officers that worked closely with Maggie before, and knew Alex from the occasions she had visited the precinct. She had a lot of potential, only her CO’s didn’t see it that way. A lot of things had changed over the years, but a lot were still the same. Old officers stuck in their old ways, it’s why Maggie was so headstrong at work. And why Alex was glad she rarely had to deal with those kind of politics at the DEO.

            She kept a slow pace as she continued to circle the arena. Every so often, there would be roars of cheering, sometimes for a goal, sometimes for a call. She was disappointed that she wasn’t with Maggie enjoying the game. When Kelly had been younger, she had always made time to make it to her games. Over the years, it had gotten harder and harder to make time to make it to Kelly’s games. This week had been one of the few weeks were neither her nor Maggie had been busy. It figured that something would ruin it for them.

            Alex continued her loop of the arena for the third time. She wasn’t seeing any sign of Donovan. Maybe he was in the crowd watching the game. If that were the case she probably wouldn’t be able to find him. It was a wonder Kelly had even seen him. There was a chance Kelly was seeing things. She had been bottling up her feelings earlier; they might have started to get to her. She sighed, she shouldn’t doubt Kelly. Donovan was unpredictable him showing up to a public game wasn’t out of the question. She was getting nowhere walking around in circles, she might have better luck if she went back to Maggie. They could observe the crowd maybe pick him out.

            She was about to do just that when her phone vibrated. Reading the screen she found it was a text from Sara. _Security said there was some activity in an area under renovations. They checked it out and didn’t find anything. Thought you would want to check it out._ Alex texted Maggie to let her know what was happening before putting her phone away. There was a chance it was a college kid or two going where they weren’t supposed to. But then again it could be something.

            Alex started towards the area she remembered had been under renovation. She shouldn’t be going in alone. It wasn’t that she thought she wouldn’t be able to handle him, he may have been dangerous but Alex was a trained fighter, she could take him. She also knew he wasn’t leaving here alive, it would cause a major problem and a big investigation, but if it meant her daughters sanity and safety she wouldn’t hesitate. Her only concern was the crowd; a stray bullet could seriously hurt someone. If she was going to do this, she had to do this right.

            She ducked under the barrier keeping the rest of the general public out.  She had to push her was through plastic hanging from the archway, as she did she brought her gun out, gripping it tightly in her hands keeping her finger off the trigger. The corridor was darker and quieter than the rest of the arena, forcing Alex to take it slow as she checked all her corners. There were too many places for someone to hide. If she wasn’t careful she could very easily turn her gun on a fan who had decided to sneak back here.

 “This ends here Donovan,” she said, “I’ve had enough of you harassing my daughter.”

            She whipped around the corner her aim darting around the area, but she saw nothing. _There might not be anyone back here at all._ She started to lower her gun. Donovan could be in the crowd, she was talking to no one she had to be.

 “Last chance Donovan.”

            There was nothing, everything remained still and quiet. Her hands dropped to her sides; resigned to the fact Donovan wasn’t there _Damnit._ She started to back track, they would have to keep an eye out for him. It wasn’t ideal but it would have to do. That should have been the end of it, but as she came back around the corner, someone grabbed her arm, twisting it painfully. Alex cried out, the gun slipping from her hands.

 “Looking for me?” Donovan growled shoving Alex against the wall.

 “Bastard.” Alex stomped on his foot hard enough to make him release her. She dove for her gun only to have it kicked away by Donovan.

            Alex got to her feet barely avoiding Donovan’s fist as he swung at her. She jammed her elbow into his ribs throwing him off balance enough that she could hit him in the face. He screamed when her punch connected with his broken nose. His hands flew to his face as blood began to flow through his fingers. He stumbled away from her, bent over in pain, leaving the gun wide open for Alex to recover. She ran to it dropping down to grab it, as she began to turn around her finger already on the trigger a cry of rage came from behind her. There was a soft clang as something hard hit her in the side of the head. She collapsed to the ground, the world around her fading in and out of view.

            Hot blood started pooling from the gash on the side of her head. Trickling through her hair and down her neck. She rolled her head to the side trying to focus on something, anything. To will herself back to her feet, to save herself, but her body wouldn’t respond to her. She was better than this, how did he get the better of her?

 “You’re finished,” he said his voice sounding strained.

            The last thing Alex saw before her vision when completely dark was Miles Donovan standing over her, blood soaking part of his face and a piece of rebar in his hand. She saw the anger in his eyes. He was going to kill her.

XXXXX

            Lena examined the crater Kelly had created in the wall. It wasn’t something that needed immediate attention but the lab definitely needed cleaned if she was going to get any work done. The chunks of concrete scattered on the floor were too large for her to get by herself. She would need Kara or Lori to help her. It could wait until later, for the time being she wanted to look into the sample she still had of the alien venom. She found the compound fascinating she would love to test it with Kara to see if it had the same effect on the Kryptonian as it had on Kelly but unfortunately, Kara wasn’t fond of being an experiment.

 “Nice place you have here.”

            The voice behind her startled her. She didn’t recognize it and no one should have been down here. Only a select few even knew about this particular part of the lab, there was a reason it was off limits. She spun around coming face to face with the Warden. She was tall, intimidating with her face hidden behind mask. Red strands of light danced around her body from her shoulders to her feet. Lena took an involuntary step back.

 “How did you get in here,” Lena asked trying to keep her voice even.

            Warden took a step towards her cocking her head slightly. “Wasn’t hard,” she said holding up her hard, small sparks of red coming off her fingertips. “Relax I have no intention of hurting you. You simply have something I want. Give it to me and I’ll leave.”

 “And what exactly are you after?” Lena glanced behind her, knowing there was a shock baton under one of the tables. If she could get ahold of if maybe she could escape and put the lab on lockdown. It could give her enough time to get Kara here, she wouldn’t be able to fight Warden but it would give her a safety net.

 “Some type of venom, if I can’t get the alien I can at least get that,” she said. “So hand it over and I’ll be going.”

            Her fingers grazed the baton. She needed Warden to get a little closer before she did anything. Warden waited, her hand extended out for Lena. She wished she could see behind that mask, to be able to see what Warden was thinking. Warden stepped closer to her, “Now Miss Luthor, I don’t have time to waste.” Lena took that as her chance, she pulled the baton from its hiding spot. Warden didn’t have time to react before she jammed the prongs against her neck and electrocuted her.

            Warden jerked back grabbing her neck. _At least she can be hurt._ Lena was about to run past when Warden lashed out grabbing her. She ripped the baton from her hands crushing it in her grasp sending plastic flying everywhere.

 “You shouldn’t have done that,” Warden growled twisting her arm to the point she nearly screamed. “I wasn’t going to hurt you, but now… I think I will.”

            She released Lena’s arm before backhanding her across the face. Lena fell her cheek stinging from the blow but she did not attempt to run. “I try to be patient, I really do.” Warden crouched down in front of Lena reaching out again this time gently caressing where she had just hit her. “You should have just given me what I want.” This time she hit her hard enough to knock Lena unconscious. She sighed as she rose to her feet and removed her mask. Why couldn’t she have cooperated?

            Warden glanced around the lab, looking for the vial Ms. Thorul had assured her was there. Unfortunately, there were dozens of vials throughout the lab, it would take time to find the right one. One by one she scanned over them until she found the one she was looking for until she found it. She examined it closely. There wasn’t much left but enough for her to use. She carefully placed it in one of the pockets on her chest plate before dawning her mask again.

            She glanced at the unconscious woman on the floor. _What to do with her…?_ She glanced around finding nothing before sighing again. It wouldn’t hurt to leave her there. Then again, perhaps she shouldn't. She found a couple of bunsen burners on one of the desks and flipped it on. A little fire never hurt anyone, at least if they could make it out. She knocked it over, the fire slowly starting to spread. Warden turned to leave, there was nothing else for her there and she needed to get to Donovan.

XXXXX

            Maggie had started to worry when she hadn’t heard from Alex after her initial text. She knew Alex could take care of herself, that didn’t stop the pit growing in her stomach. Leaving her set she had made her way hurriedly to the area Alex had said she was going. When she came around the corner down the dark hallway, her heart stopped cold. Alex was one the ground, blood seeping from a wound on her head. Donovan was above her arm raised ready to deliver another blow with the rebar in his hands. Maggie reacted without thinking, sprinting forward and jumping at the last second to tackle Donovan away from Alex.

            They hit the ground hard, Donovan grunting in pain the rebar falling from his hand. Maggie rolled over, quickly pinning him to the ground allowing her to wrap her hands around his neck. He swung at her as best as he could put his punches had little force behind them and only succeeded in making her press harder. She could feel how much he was struggling to breath but she didn’t care. Seeing Alex laying there, unresponsive, in a pool of her own blood had caused something inside of her to snap. Donovan clawed at her arms, desperately trying to free himself but was quickly becoming weaker.

           He couldn’t breathe, the world was starting to go dark around him. He had resigned himself to die just like Director Danvers had moments before he’d been interrupted. Then out of nowhere, the wait was gone from above him and he could breathe again. He rolled to his side coughing and gasping for air his hands on his throat. When he finally looked up, he saw Warden with Maggie at her feet.

 “You took your sweet fucking time,” Donovan said through gritted teeth.

 “I had a prior engagement,” Warden said casually. “I was paying Mrs. Luthor-Danvers a visit. Or did you forget?”

            Donovan got to his knees moving to retrieve the rebar. “I was a little busy here.” He was startled to see Maggie lunge forward but she wasn’t coming at him, she was moving to shield the Director. To him it looked like he would be taking them both out. “Now leave me be, I have something to finish.”

            He barely made it a step forward when Warden was on top of him shoving him back. “I don't know what Ms. Thorul told you but this isn't how things work,” she growled glancing at the two injured women. “We’re leaving.”

 “But I’m not done,” Donovan whined.

            Warden turned to him the red sparks of light around her flaring brighter. “If the girl shows up we’re both screwed,” she said. “You have done enough; we want her on our side not against us. You kill either of them and we will lose her completely. Is that understood?”

            Donovan muttered under his breath but made no more attempt to attack the two women. Warden started off, ignoring the rest of them only pausing briefly when Donovan didn’t immediately follow.

            Maggie glared at them as they left, not attempting to follow. Alex needed medical attention and she needed it then. She squeezed Alex’s hand whispering her promise to return shortly before starting off in the opposite direction of Warden and Donovan to get help. It didn’t take long to get a medic, a few security guards and Sara back to Alex. Maggie didn’t want to leave her side as the medic went to work stabilizing her wife. Someone had to tell Kelly.

 “Sara I need you to get Kelly,” Maggie said, squeezing Alex’s hand again. “Wait until the game is over, have her come to the hospital, but under no circumstances are you to tell her what happened here. I’ll do that later.”

 “Of course,” Sara said before turning her attention to Alex. “Is she going to be alright?”

 “Alex is tough,” Maggie said more to convince herself than to answer Sara.

 “Are you going to be alright?” Sara pressed.

            Maggie looked up at the younger officer a sad smile on her face. “For now yes, but ask me again tomorrow.” Sara moved aside to allow the medic through with the gurney, watching as Maggie stayed to help them. She had no idea what had happened back there, but she wasn’t about to get involved any more than she had to. Whatever it was had been way above her pay grade.

 

            On the other side of the arena Kelly was glancing around, looking for any sign of her parents, not finding any. She barely had any time to dwell on it before her coach was shouting at her to get back on the ice and get her head in the game. She shook off the disappointment, they had a reason, she knew. They would apologize and make it up to her later, or try too. Whatever her father was doing there had pulled them both away to protect her. She couldn’t fault them for that. Taking her deep breath, she pushed herself over the barrier onto the ice. They would win this game; she would make sure of it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finished it woohoo. So this chapter is a continuation of last chapter, it ran so long I had to cut it into two. Hopefully you guys like it, I know I do. In any case thanks for reading, let me know what you think and enjoy. Also another note Sara is not Sara Lance, the dumbass that I am I forgot Sara Lance is a character in the DC TV shows. Oops.

            Sara had waited outside the locker room for Kelly to emerge. She hated how her the smile left her face as soon as their eyes met. Kelly was a smart girl, the instant she saw Sara she knew something was wrong. She left the group of her teammates, earning a few glances of confusion and a jab or two from others. Kelly ignored them choosing to follow Sara without a word.

 “Do you want a ride,” Sara asked.

 “No I have my bike,” Kelly said staring straight ahead. “I could use an escort though.”

 “Done.”

            Kelly followed Sara closely on her motorcycle as they made their way through the city towards the hospital. As they went Kelly saw Kara fly overhead heading in the opposite direction. She wondered what the emergency was on her end if she wasn’t heading towards the hospital. It was a question for later, at the moment her main concern was learning what had happened. Sara had refused to tell her anything, probably under orders from one of her parents. Kelly gripped the throttle tighter wanting to speed past the black and white in front of her, knowing she could get away with it. She decided better of it, keeping pace with Sara until they arrived at the hospital.

            She entered alone, Sara having gotten a call she had to respond to only seconds after they had gotten there. It hadn’t taken her long to find where she was supposed to be. Over the years she had spent a lot of time in the hospital, both as a patient and as a visitor. She hated how bright it was and the smell of disinfectant always hurt her nostrils. The problem she was having was she didn’t know who she was looking for, Maggie or Alex. They both had different habits when they were in the hospital. Alex would sit quietly by herself deep in thought while Maggie had a tendency to pace.

 “Kelly there you are,” Maggie said rushing up to her and pulling her into a tight embrace.

            At least she didn’t have to go looking. “What happened? Where’s mom?” Maggie pulled away, glancing at something behind her. She took ahold of Kelly’s elbow and led her around the corner to a row of chairs. Kelly collapsed into one, looking up at her mother with a mixture of curiosity and worry.

 “Alex was hurt,” Maggie said deciding not to beat around the bush. “Donovan ambushed her, I managed to get there before he hurt her any worse than he already did. He escaped but the important thing is Alex is going to be okay.”

 “What did he…?” Kelly couldn’t manage to get all the words out. “How bad?”

 “She has a concussion, some memory loss and a new scar to add to her ever growing collection,” she said the last part with a bit of distain. “She’s awake, still a little groggy but she wants to see you.”

            Kelly started to rise only to have Maggie push her back down. “I need you to listen to me, this wasn’t your fault. You are not responsible for anything that happened. Do you understand?” Maggie kept her hand on Kelly’s shoulder until her daughter looked away and nodded. She was aware Kelly didn’t fully believe her and knew the second she saw Alex she would be blaming herself for putting her in that situation. She also knew Alex would tell her the exact same thing; it wasn’t her fault.

            Maggie let Kelly up following close behind her as they made their way to Alex’s room. Kelly hesitated in the doorway upon seeing Alex lying there, her head bandaged and eyes closed almost as if she was sleeping. Alex heard them and opened her eyes, smiling when she saw Kelly.

 “Hey kiddo,” she sounded tired but Kelly knew it was because she was sedated.

            She held out her hand for Kelly to take and after a moment’s hesitation Kelly crossed the room taking the hand offered to her. She squeezed it tightly suddenly having to fight back tears. It hurt seeing her mom like this, even if it was one of the more minor injuries she had sustained over the years. To her it wasn’t so much the injury she had gotten, it was who had done it. He hurt Alex because he wanted to hurt her. If it hadn’t been for her, her mom would have never gotten hurt. Kelly couldn’t stop herself from crying now instead burying her face in Alex’s shoulder.

 “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed over and over again.

            Alex hugged her tightly, glancing at Maggie who looked near tears herself. Maggie came over to them, rubbing Kelly’s back as she continued to cry into Alex’s shoulder.  The last time Kelly had cried this hard had been when she was sixteen and thought she was going to die. They had all thought she was going to die. Alex had thought the same about herself only an hour ago. She was sure Donovan was going to kill her before anyone would save her, but Maggie came through, her knight in shining armor. Alex didn’t remember it, Maggie had to fill her in on the events after she lost consciousness.

 “Kel, it’s okay,” Alex said trying to soothe her daughter. “I’m alive, a little worse for wear, but still in one piece.”

            Kelly finally pulled away trying to wipe the remaining tears from her face. “If I hadn’t said anything…” She turned her head unable to look at Alex.

 “Something like this would have happened anyway,” Alex argued. “Trust me, this is nothing. Maggie has done more damage to me sparring.”

            It wasn’t true but it was enough to get Maggie to lightly punch her in the shoulder and for Kelly to chuckle. “Besides,” she continued, tapping the side of her head that wasn’t injured. “I’ve got a really hard head.” This had Kelly laughing and Alex smiling even though her head was killing her.

 “I’m glad you’re okay,” Kelly said once her laughter died down. “I just wish I could have done something…”

 “I don’t want you near him,” Maggie said seriously. “You leave him to us.”

            Kelly leaned into Maggie giving her a one armed hug. “One of these days you’ll have to stop protecting me.” She was tired of being protected, it was her turn to do the protecting. She kept an eye on the city, but her aunt did more for the city than she ever could. She wasn’t a kid anymore, she knew what sacrifice was and if sacrificing herself to save her family is what it took she wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

            Next to them Alex groaned her head falling back into the pillow. She needed to rest, both of them knew that. Kelly didn’t want to leave her parents but she had a plan forming in the back of her mind. A plan neither of them needed to know about, it would be better if she had some time alone.

 “I’m gonna head home, I’m still pretty sore from the game,” she said rubbing her neck, she wasn’t lying, she still hurt from the hit she took.

 “Alright,” Maggie agreed, glancing at Alex. “They want to keep her overnight for observation. I’m going to stay here with her, will you be okay?”

 “Yeah, yeah dad doesn’t know where you live,” she said. “Besides I’ve got a big dog and a vicious cat to protect me if something does happen.”

            Maggie ruffled Kelly’s hair. “Go ahead and get home, I’ll call if anything happens,” she said. “Love you kiddo.”

            Kelly grinned starting towards the door. “You too mom, both of you.” She left the room keeping the smile on her face until she was sure no one saw. By the time she reached the exit her fists were clenched. She wasn’t going to let this go, not this time. He was never going to hurt her or her family again.

XXXXX

            Donovan had to admit that Warden, although intimidating and more than a little frightening, was an interesting subject. She didn’t speak much, anything she had to say she articulated in as few words as possible. He watched her whenever they were back at the hide out. When she wasn’t cleaning and sharpening her weapons (two axes he had never seen her even take with her) she was hanging near Ms. Thorul, like she was guarding the woman. Donovan was sure Ms. Thorul was the last person who needed protecting, she was dangerous in her own way, the way she sat quietly, devising her plans and silently planning how to eliminate her opposition. At least that’s what he believed she was doing, he honestly had no idea.

            Truth be told he didn’t trust either of them. Ms. Thorul had been very generous when they had first met seventeen years ago, but after their first encounter she disappeared only reemerging recently to get him released from prison. Back then Warden had been a quiet brooding figure, it had been surprising to learn she was a woman. He had never learned the true reasoning behind their interest in his daughter, and now their interests had changed to include Supergirl and the Danvers family.

He scoffed at the thought of the two Danvers women. The one he knew, she had taken Kelly from him, turned his daughter against him. The other he had never seen before, he didn’t know who she was just that she was also Kelly’s adoptive mother. It made him sick thinking about it. He wanted them both dead for what they had done. If only Warden would stop interfering with his revenge.

 “Something on your mind Miles?” Ms. Thorul was watching him with an intensity that made him shrink back.

 “What’s with the interest in my daughter,” he asked. “Why did you come to me all those years ago and why did you wait until now to go after her?”

            Ms. Thorul smiled, a sight Donovan had quickly learned was rare. He understood why. Something in the way she smiled was dangerous, it was enough to make his skin crawl. He wondered if Warden ever felt the same.

 “All valid questions,” she waved Warden over, looking up at the woman. “Why don’t you tell him everything?”

 “Of course ma’am,” Warden said. She jerked her head to the side, urging him to follow her. “This might take a while. Make yourself comfortable.”

            Donovan took a seat across the room from Warden. She had a tendency to pace, even when talking casually, he didn’t expect this to be any different.

 “Do you know how rare Photokinetics are?”

 “Not really,” he said with a shrug. “Never really cared.”

 “Then to put it simply, it’s a rare mutation, on I share with Flare, she and I are the same,” Warden explained. “The only difference is her manifests as yellow light mine is red. I’ve also had years to perfect my methods. I can remove ambient light from around a person. But I’m just one person, we need her to finish Ms. Thorul’s plans.”

 “Which are?”

            Warden smirked. “Complete control.” It sounded simple, but the truth was far from it. Ms. Thorul, with Warden’s help, had gained a foothold on their Earth but people still didn’t give them the respect they deserved. Even after Warden’s show of power they didn’t care, they needed something else to scare them into submission. A second Kinetic would do exactly that. If they could get her.

 “She never told you about our Earth did she?”

            Donovan shook his head. All Ms. Thorul ever said to him was they needed Kelly for her powers and he needed to do everything in his power to make her loyal to them.

 “After we came to you, things went south on our Earth. Supergirl and Superman went…rogue. We had no choice. We did what we had to do.”

 

_Warden hit the ground hard, the ground beneath her cracking under the pressure and exploding outward. Mounds of dirt peppered nearby buildings as well as anyone unlucky enough to be in her crash zone. She rolled onto her stomach, her fingers gripping the shaft of her axe to the point her knuckles were turning white._

_“I can’t keep this up,” she shouted. “Tell me what to do.”_

_All she heard back was static. She was on her own for the time being. If she was going to survive she needed to go on the offensive. The only problem was she didn’t know if she was supposed to kill him. She got to her feet her eyes darting around frantically for one of the two supers. All she needed to do was take one of them out and she could handle the other easily._

_There was nothing on her coms, leaving her all alone. The two supers were circling above her. They had yet to attack her at the same time. She doubted that would last, they were getting just as tired as her._

_Supergirl came at her first in a flash of blue and red. Warden stood her ground, this was her last chance._

_Around them the world slowed to crawl, even Superman seemed to be moving at half his normal speed. Supergirl fly directly at her, her eyes glowing red with heat vision. Warden could take it, it was just another form of light, she could take it, she had to. It hit her in her chest, burning through her chest plate down to the skin. She grit her teeth trying to ignore the pain. All she had to do was hit Supergirl once._

_The distance between them closed quickly with Supergirl bearing down on her. Right as the Super went to punch her Warden brought the axe up catching Supergirl in the stomach, sending her and Warden’s axe spiraling to the ground. Blood seeped from the wound. Supergirl looked up in confusion, how could she be hurt?_

_“Stay down,” Warden growled retrieving her weapon. “I need to take care of your cousin.”_

_She took off to face Superman in the sky. He would be angry, unpredictable, and easy to take down with his cousin hurt. It was the perfect opportunity to finish the fight._

_“You’ll pay for that Warden,” he said dangerously._

_“Perhaps,” she said with a shrug, “but doubtful.”_

_He wasn’t as fast as Supergirl, but he was just as strong, and when he hit her she felt multiple bones break. She lost altitude immediately, and he followed, unrelenting in his strikes. Forcing her closer and closer to the ground._

_Red light started to bubble to the surface around her absorbing some of the blows. She twisted her hands, manipulating the light into strands that wrapped around his arms as he hit her. It slowly began to wrap itself further up his body, around his neck and torso, until the point that he could no longer move as it held him in place. He struggled like a cornered animal, unable to break the restraints that held him._

_“Kill him,” the voice in her ear was loud and commanding._

_“Just him?” She had to know, she wasn’t sure she could do it._

_“Both of them,” the voice said. “Do it Warden. Do not disappoint me.”_

_Superman looked at her with such anger that she didn’t even blink when a spear of red light exploded from his chest. He collapsed to the ground, unmoving, dead. Warden turned to Supergirl, who was attempting to crawl away towards some type of salvation. It was sad, no one was there to save the hero._

_“Don’t do this,” she pleaded. “There is good in you. I know there is.”_

_Warden scoffed. “Like there was good in you once?” Supergirl and Superman had both terrorized the city for years, and yet everyone saw them as heroes._

_“She’s brainwashed you,” Supergirl continued. “Nothing will come of this, you can still walk away.”_

_“No,” Warden said a spear forming above her head, “I can’t.”_

_She brought her hand down, the spear slicing into Supergirl like she was nothing. Supergirl fell limp, her head rolling to the side. Warden stepped away from the body, unable to look at it any longer. She had just killed the two most powerful beings on the planet like they were nothing. Warden thought she should feel something after such a feat, whether it be anger or sadness, elation, but she felt nothing. She felt empty._

_“You did well,” the voice in her ear said. “Return home, we have plans to make.”_

_“Yes ma’am,” she said, glancing at the two figures behind her. “I’m on my way.”_

 

            Donovan stared at her wide eyed with his mouth agape. “You mean you just killed them, just like that?” He didn’t believe her and why should he? Donovan didn’t know them, what they had to do to survive. He was an outsider, a third party they had involved because of their need for another kinetic.

            Warden had to assume that even though Donovan was part of the Children of Liberty and their main goal was the eradication of aliens, he didn’t exactly imagine killing Supergirl. He was one of the ones who believed in discrediting the Super, not necessarily killing her.

 “I followed my orders,” she said. “Just like I’m following my orders now.”

 “So why kill our Supergirl?”

            It was a simple question, a good question. Why did she have orders to kill Supergirl? The answer wasn’t that complicated, but it wasn’t entirely simple. Ms. Thorul never gave her complete answers, because she didn’t need to know everything. Warden didn’t like it but she had to deal with it.

 “It was an agreement between Ms. Thorul and someone high up in your Earth’s government. Someone who believed in Ben Lockwood’s ideals,” Warden shrugged. “In return for killing Supergirl he would get you released.”

 “So you needed me, why?”

 “At first I figured Ms. Thorul wanted you to control Flare, she knew more about the relationship than I ever did,” she paused her hand coming up to scratch her chin. “Fuck she never even told me Flare was your daughter. I knew of Kelly but not of her.”

            Donovan smirked. “But now you think it’s something else she isn’t telling you.” He was mocking her, mocking the fact that she was kept in the dark. He was enjoying the dissention between her and Ms. Thorul. It shouldn’t have made her as angry as it did. Things had always been like this, Ms. Thorul leaving her in the dark. It was no different now than it had been before.

 “We need you to keep Kelly away long enough that I can take care of Supergirl,” Warden snapped. “I can’t beat her by myself, she is different, stronger, and faster than I am. But she was so damaged by you I may actually have a chance.”

 “Is that why you won’t let me kill that Danvers bitch?”

 “We want to be able to mold her,” Warden said. “She is protective of her family that much is clear. If she were to lose any of them she would kill us.”

 “So what do we do?”

            It was her turn to smirk. Ms. Thorul may not have told her everything, and she may have been bound to whatever orders were given to her, but Donovan wasn’t. She could plant an idea in his head and send him out. Donovan would follow the suggestion to the letter, giving Warden what she needed to please Ms. Thorul and make Donovan out to be a reckless old man. He was important but not critical in their mission. Worst case scenario Warden would have to save him from any fuck up he may make. So why not use that to her advantage instead of scolding him for being an idiot.

 “That’s one of the best questions you’ve asked all day,” she said, knowing her smile was scaring him. “The simple answer is we get her grounded, or more accurately, removed from the fight. And I think you are that solution.”

 “You want me to do what exactly?”

            Warden went over to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and squeezing so tightly she felt something crack. “Let’s go for a walk, I’ll explain everything.”

XXXXX

            Lori watched as her mom paced across the room, her red cape swaying behind her. Lena was laying on the couch, a pack of ice on her face. They had woken Lori up with all the commotion. Kara having started to angrily monologue to Lena the second they had landed. Lori wasn’t sure what exactly her mom was angry about, but she knew it was nothing Lena had done. Not with the way Lena was laying on the couch, half listening to Kara.

 “That…that Warden needs to be dealt with,” she hissed, stopping her pacing for half a second. “She should have been dealt with already.”

 “Darling, please settle down, I’m fine,” Lena repeated again, but the Kryptonian didn’t seem to hear her. “Your sister is doing what she can to track Warden, but honestly she’s been more concerned with Donovan. You do realize he’s been stalking your niece.”

            Kara finally stopped her pacing, coming to sit on the edge of the couch next to Lena. She raised her hand to wave Lori over. Now that she was still, she felt exhausted. She had been running on fumes since she realized something was wrong at L-Corp. The lab had been enveloped in flames when she arrived, and Lena had been unconscious on the ground. At first she had thought Lena was dead because her breathing was so shallow. Kara had saved what she could of the lab before getting Lena medical attention. The doctors told her (Kara not Supergirl) Lena suffered from smoke inhalation and a bruised cheek but nothing serious and send her on the way (much to Lena’s insistence).

 “Warden is the threat, not Donovan we can handle him,” Kara sighed holding out her arm to let Lori lean against her. “She could have killed you, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing because I can’t fight her.”

 “You can’t put this all on Kelly,” Lena said. “She’s tough just like Alex but she’s young and new to all this. She isn’t you Kara, no how hard she tries to be.”

 “That’s not what I meant,” Kara said. “We need to be finding a solution to the problem, I need to be able to help Kelly fight Warden. I don’t want her to do this alone, but unless we come up with something she’s going to have to.”

            Lena sat up, setting the ice pack to the side. Kara rarely got worked up like this, especially in front of Lori. She was always collected in front of their daughter, but sometimes even the strongest people broke. Gently, Lena ran her fingers through Kara’s hair, before letting her hand trail down her wife’s back.

 “Don’t worry about that right now,” she said softly. “I’ll handle it, I promise.”

 “I’ll help too,” Lori spoke up for the first time, earning a smile from both of her parents.

            The reality was they were all scattered. Alex couldn’t focus on Warden because of Donovan. Kelly was stuck between her duties as Flare, her responsibilities as a student and dealing with the trauma of her father’s release. Maggie was in the middle of a homicide investigation. Lena had to split her time between testing the alien venom, designing a new suit for Kelly, figuring out how to protect Kara from Warden all while running a multi-million dollar company and raising Lori. Kara had her responsibilities as a reporter, a mother and as Supergirl, the last of which she couldn’t put a hundred percent into because of Warden. It didn’t help that both Nia and James were out of town at a conference. They could have used their help right about now.

 “You’re right,” Kara said. “Let’s just forget about it tonight and-”

            She was interrupted by her phone ringing. Lena handed her the device, showing her the screen read Maggie. Kara sighed rising from the couch. What could Maggie want this late at night?

 “Hey, Maggie,” she answered.

 “Hey Kar, listen Alex told me not to call you, but you’d find out anyway so,” Maggie was rambling which told Kara something was wrong.

 “What happened?”

 “Alex was attacked earlier.”

 “What?”

            Lena couldn’t hear the conversation on the other end but she knew her daughter was listening closely. “Aunt Alex is hurt,” Lori whispered as Kara started her pacing again.

 “She’s fine Kara, a concussion and bruised ego,” Maggie assured her. “I just wanted to let you know.”

 “Who was it?”

 “Donovan, he was at the game, Kelly saw him and panicked. Alex was trying to _fix_ the problem, but he ambushed her,” Maggie explained. “We can talk about it all later, for now we can’t do anything.”

 “Where’s Kelly?”

 “At home, she was pretty upset but I don’t think she’ll do anything reckless.”

            Kara could hear the doubt in her voice. There was something Maggie wasn’t telling her. She wasn’t going to push it, whatever was bothering Maggie was something she wasn’t ready to share. Kara had learned that when her sister-in-law was hesitant she was still mauling things over. If it was important she would have shared it.

 “I’ll fly over and check on her,” Kara said. “You take care of my sister.”

            Maggie didn’t respond for the longest time. “Thanks Kara, I’ll see you later.” Kara set the phone down turning towards her wife and daughter. She realized Lori had listened in on the entire conversation and relayed the information to Lena. She shouldn’t have been surprised, the two of them shared that habit, but Kara was better about doing it without being caught.

 “I guess I don’t have to tell you what’s going on,” Kara said sighing. “I need to check on Kelly, will you be alright?”

            Lena smiled. “Yes, don’t worry Kara. This is important.” She could see her wife hesitate. Kara didn’t want to leave her alone after the events that had unfolded that night. Lena couldn’t blame her, she didn’t exactly want Kara to leave either, but if Maggie was worried about Kelly she needed to go. She wouldn’t have been gone long.

            She went over to Lena, kissing her briefly before turning to Lori, who looked grossed out by her parents PDA. “You better get back to bed,” Kara said, leaning down to kiss the top of her daughters head. “Don’t worry about your aunts or cousin, they’ll be fine.”

 “I know,” Lori said confidently. “Kelly is the toughest person I know.”

            Kara smiled. She knew Lori looked up to Kelly, almost as much as she looked up to Kara and Lena. Kara felt the same about Kal-el, even though he was technically younger she looked up to him. But Kara knew her cousin had his faults and Kelly had her faults. She wasn’t as perfect as a lot of people thought. Deep down Kelly was broken. Lena understood it better than the rest of them, having grown up in an unloving home. She and Kelly shared that to a degree. Kelly got out early but the trauma was still there and Kara figured it always would be.

 “I’ll see you two later,” she said starting towards the window. “Love you both.”

            Then she was gone, leaving Lena and Lori alone on the couch.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So once again this chapter was starting to run so long I had to cut it in two, no problem means more content for you lovely readers. On another note this chapter was a little hard for me to write but hopefully the quality didn't suffer to much. I really want to give you something you enjoy so I hope you like it nonetheless. Next chapter should be up in a couple of weeks. In any case thanks for reading, let me know what you think and enjoy

 “Damnit…”

            Her parents never locked the office door. At least they didn’t anymore, Maggie did occasionally when she was working on a case she didn’t want Kelly to snoop into. When she was younger they had always locked it, never wanting her to see the murder board Maggie sometimes kept. She wasn’t expecting it to be locked when she returned home. Then again maybe her parents foresaw this happening and locked it on purpose. She could tear apart the house looking for the key, or she could pick the lock. The second option sounded a little easier and less time consuming.

            She went to her parent’s bedroom, she knew that one of them kept a lock picking kit there. Kelly also knew exactly why it was there, though she wished she didn’t. For people who made a living keeping secrets her parents where horrible at it. She lifted up the mattress, digging out the pouch that had the objects she needed to pick the lock. Kelly was just happy her parents no longer kept it in the drawer of their… _stuff._

            Titan came over to her as she kneeled in front of the door. She rubbed between his ears. He had always been a good dog, almost like a guardian to her since they got him. She knew he was getting up there in years but he still had a lot of life left in him. He was also a great guard dog.

 “Do me a favor buddy,” she said scratching his neck before pointing towards the front door. “Watch.”

            She waited for him to walk towards the end of the hall and sit. Titan had been trained like a police dog but he never was one, it was just her mother’s slight paranoia that lead to his training. They had gotten him not long before she had been hospitalized at sixteen. Her parents had made sure to bring him to her while she was recovering. She felt connected to the German Shepard, he really was man’s best friend.

            Kelly inserted the lock pick, twisting it every which way trying to get the lock to open, but after three minutes of trying she realized she wasn’t getting anywhere. She fell back in frustration, it shouldn’t be that hard to pick a simple lock. Part of her wanted to break down the door, it wouldn’t have been that hard. One solid kick to just under the knob would break the frame. If she did that her parents would know immediately what she had done.

            Behind her Titan began to growl. She turned her head, seeing him on all fours, his head was low and he was bearing his teeth. Kelly rose to her feet slowly, light forming around her hand. Titan wouldn’t growl at her parents, he shouldn’t growl at her aunts or cousin, he was still growling at the cat but Kelly didn’t think this was Cornflake.

 “Kelly?”

            Kelly swung around, kicking the lock picking kit across the hall into her old room. The light disappeared from her hand, she might look suspicious if she greeted her aunt with hostility. She ripped the two remaining picks from the door, chucking them into her room with the rest of the kit. She brushed off her shirt hoping she didn’t look to suspicious.

 “Hey Aunt Kara,” she greeted her when she entered the family room. “What are you doing here?”

 “Maggie called, she wanted me to check up on you,” Kara said walking over to scratch Titan behind the ears. “She’s worried.”

            She couldn’t help chuckling. “Y’know for someone who never wanted kids she’s really good at the whole mom thing.” Kelly teased her mom about it all the time after she found out that her parents had called off their engagement after Maggie put her foot down about kids. She never meant it in a way that hurt Maggie, she was always kind about it. All she really teased about was how amazing of a parent she was after being so adamant she never wanted kids.

 “She loves you Kelly,” Kara said seriously.

 “I know, believe me,” Kelly said smiling. “I think it annoys Alex sometimes just how close Maggie and I are. After all it took me a year to even call Alex mom, I started calling Maggie mom after two months.”

 “So you’re okay?”

 “I’m upset, and I want to kill him for hurting my mom,” Kelly admitted. “But I’m not going to do anything. Even if I wanted to I don’t know where I would start.”

            Kara nodded, seeming to believe her. “Do you want me to stay?” Kelly could tell Kara didn’t want to stay if she could help it. If she had to guess it had to do with whatever had happened earlier that night.

 “No, I’m fine. I actually was about to go to bed,” she lied. “I can tell you’d rather be home with Aunt Lena and Lori.”

 “Can’t get anything by you.”

            Kelly shrugged. “What can I say my mom is a detective.” Kara hugged her. She was tense, her mind clearly somewhere else. Kelly was glad that she didn’t linger much longer after she broke the hug. Titan whined when she left, having always enjoyed the attention her aunt gave him. Kelly had to ignore it, she needed to get into the office.

 “If the lock pick isn’t going to work,” she muttered holding up her hand as light formed around it, “maybe this will.”

            She kneeled in front of the door placing her hand on the keyhole, the light slowly seeping through it. She had only done this once when Nick had locked himself out of his car. As luck would have it she heard a click through the door. She pushed it open finding the room dark and undisturbed. Part of her felt bad for breaking into the room, whatever her parents had locked in here was there for a reason.

 “If I were a file where would I be?”

            Both Alex and Maggie were organized people, they would have it somewhere simple, a drawer or shelf. Or right on top of the desk. She flipped open the file, seeing her father’s face on the first page. The image was old, it was from his arrest seventeen years ago. He didn’t look to different from back then but his hair had definitely grayed. It was a face she wished she could forget, but knew it would be a long time before she could. What she needed was where he was imprisoned. It probably wasn’t in the file but it never hurt to check.

            She sat back in the desk chair. It creaked under the weight but was soon quiet as she read through the papers. Alex had always been evasive when it came to conversations about Miles Donovan. Kelly understood why to a degree, but there had been things she wanted to know about her biological father. The main thing was why. She wanted, no needed, to know why he had hurt her. Alex would never answer her. She came to know that was because Alex didn’t have an answer. His file told her enough, he had been married once before, to a woman who had died under suspicious circumstances. Donovan had been the main suspect but the case had been a mess and no charges were brought against him. _He must have married my mother after that…maybe that’s why she never came home. Maybe he killed her to._

            Kelly clenched her jaw, all the more reason he should be behind bars. She continued to read through more of the file until she came across what she had been looking for to begin with. Miles Donovan had spent his sentence at Albatross Bay Prison. The same prison Ben Lockwood had been imprisoned. It made sense, they had a shared history and had been charged for a lot of the same crimes (though Lockwood had multiple other charges on top of the ones he received for the Children of Liberty).

            She would have to go to the prison and speak to Donovan’s old cellmate. She knew no one there would give her any information, but a prisoner might. The problem was getting into the prison. She had no idea who Donovan’s old cellmate was which meant going in for a visit was off the table. The only other option was to go there to interrogate him, but that wouldn’t happen without proper identification that she didn’t have.

 “Fuck me…”

            It was a dead-end. How could she possibly pull something like this off without Alex or Maggie’s help? The answer was simple – she wouldn’t. _Unless…_ Kelly rose from her seat, moving over to the filing cabinet on the far side of the room. She used her Photokinesis to pop open the lock, much like she had the door, allowing her to open and search through the top drawer. If she remembered correctly there was an old DEO badge Alex kept in there. It took some digging but she eventually found it buried underneath dozens of loose papers.

            She opened it with a slight smile. The image on the plastic was of her mother when she was younger, probably in her late twenties when she had let her hair grow out. Sometimes she wished she had known the old Alex. The Alex that all the agents at the DEO revered. Kelly had seen glimpses of that Alex but the one she knew, the one she called mom, was more subdued, less inclined to violence. Maybe if she knew that old Alex she could understand her reasons now.

            Kelly sighed. It didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered was finding Donovan before he had another chance to hurt them. He wanted a fight, she would give him one. She shut the door, flipped the lights off and closed the door behind her. The prison would have to wait until morning. Until then she would prepare, maybe even get some sleep.

 

 

            She hadn’t slept at all. There was too much weighing on her mind. When her parents found out what she had done they would be furious. She knew what the consequences would be for going off on her own on her own war path against Donovan. What she was planning on doing was something neither of her parents would understand. It would take them time to forgive her for not letting them handle it. She couldn’t stand by any longer. She needed to step up and look out for her parents for once. They had sacrificed enough for her already.

            It had been the early morning, just as the sun was rising, that she left Titan and Cornflake to their own devices and left on her motorcycle towards Albatross Bay Prison. She had made some minor adjustments to the DEO badge she had barrowed. It wasn’t perfect but it would fool anyone who didn’t look to closely. She had felt horrible the entire night. Kelly had never once stolen from her parents or broken into their private files. Now she had done both, not to mention how illegal it was to steal a government personnel badge.

            Her heart was pounding out of her chest by the time she stepped through the doors into the front area of the prison. She swallowed it down. If her voice was shaky when she spoke to the guard they would never let her in. Confidence was key as ever. She approached, keeping her back straight, arms to her side, unsmiling. The guard glanced up from behind the glass.

 “You the one that wants to see Rodney Wendel,” he asked.

 “Yes.”

            After some digging she had found her dad’s former cellmates name. After that she had called the prison to set something up. So far everything had gone to plan, but it was still early and she was crossing into dangerous territory.

 “Surrender any weapons then follow the officer to the interrogation room, do not make any physical contact with the prisoner and your questioning may be stopped at any time.”

            Kelly shook her head. _Are all prison guards like this? I guess I’d be bored to if I had to sit behind a desk all day…_ She followed what he had told her, though she had no weapons on her, and followed the other guard through a series of gates. She found it amazing that prison guards ever knew where to go. The prison was like a maze of locked gates that all looked the same.

            The guard finally stopped at a door opening it for her before ushering her inside. “Wendel will be brought in soon.” He said before leaving. There was another guard in the corner who said nothing. She knew it was standard procedure to have a guard in the room with the prisoner for those with more violent crimes, but she thought it was overkill for Wendel. She had done some research and learned he had been charged with armed robbery but had never hurt anyone. As far as she could understand he was non-violent. She took a seat in the metal chair on one side of the table. She was nervous, she had never questioned someone like this before. Sure, she was Flare and took down bad guys all the time, but never like this.

            Time went by at a snail’s pace as she waited for someone to bring Rodney to the room. Nothing ever happened fast at the prison it seemed. That was one thing she loved about the DEO, there was no waiting, if there was information to be got they could get it. It made sense, a lot of the prisons hated cops and agents, they would come in and act like they called the shots. Maybe they did, but it was still annoying that some guards or the prison Warden took it out on all of them (Kelly did not included herself on that list).

            It was another four minutes before the door opened again and a guard leading Rodney Wendel entered the room. Kelly rose as Wendel was walked around the table to the other chair, only sitting down once he was seated and the second guard left. She glanced over Wendel, he was skinny, his hear almost to his shoulders and unkempt. His was sharp and there were bags under his eyes from exhaustion like he hadn’t had a good night sleep in years. She wondered if the restless nights were because of regret or just being in prison in general.

 “You must be Rodney Wendel,” she said with a slight grin. “I’m Kelly.”

 “You a cop or something?”

 “No not exactly,” she said. “But that isn’t important. Would you be willing to answer some questions for me?”

            Rodney shrugged. “Why not? It’s not like I have anything else to do.” To Kelly he didn’t seem very interested at all. He looked bored, almost inconvenienced from being brought there. She didn’t really care as long as he gave her the information that she was after.

 “I want to ask you about your old cellmate, Miles Donovan,” she said, earning his attention. “He was recently released, I’m sure you’re aware of that.”

 “That should have never happened.”

 “Why’s that?”

 “Donovan is a monster, he should have rotted in here,” Rodney said. “But that lawyer of his…I don’t know what kind of connections he has but they cut through any red tape keeping him here.”

            That was news to her. As far as she knew her dad never had a lawyer, he had refused counsel during his trial refusing to put his life in anyone else’s hands. Even Alex had told her no one would go near Donovan because he was connected to both the Children of Liberty and Cadmus. That was why they had been so confident he would never be released, he was a terrorist.

 “Did he ever mention the lawyer’s name?”

 “Morrison? Marrison?” he shook his head trying to remember. “Something like that, I can’t remember.”

 “Did he say anything else?” Kelly pushed, anything he could tell her she needed to know. “Maybe who hired the lawyer or his plans if he got out?”

            Rodney glanced at the guard standing behind her. Something in his eyes told Kelly he didn’t want the guard to be there. She was already breaking the law, she might as well go big with it. She turned around nodded for the guard to leave. At first he hesitated but when she glared at him he made to exit the room. Once the door had shut behind him Kelly turned back towards Rodney.

 “Donovan was, no is, a fucked up guy, we shared a cell for five years and  day after day all he talked about was his daughter,” Rodney said leaning across the table so he could lower his voice. “He was obsessed with ‘getting her back’ whatever that meant. When that lawyer came around Donovan started bragging to everyone how that ‘government bitch’ his words not mine, would pay for taking his daughter away.”

            The government bitch must have been her mom. She’d picked it up quickly that Donovan hated Alex and would stop at nothing to see her suffer. It didn’t surprise her that Donovan was obsessed, but to brag about it to other prisoners seemed pretty stupid. It was almost like he was trying to get caught. Then again he wasn’t very smart either, he was cunning, having gotten the jump on Alex, but that was the extent of it.

 “Did he say how?”

 “Not in so many words,” Rodney said. “Not that made sense at least. He always seemed a little crazy to me.”

 “Bit of an understatement,” Kelly muttered.

            Rodney laughed catching Kelly off guard. She hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly with Rodney. Much to her surprise (and relief) he had been very forthcoming with her. It surprised her more just how friendly he seemed to be.

 “Can I ask you something Kelly?”

 “Sure,” she said.

 “Why are you so interested in Donovan?” it was a question she hadn’t been expecting but she shouldn’t have been surprised. “Has he done something?”

            Kelly sat back in her seat trying to put a little distance between them. She wasn’t sure how to answer his question. On the one hand it didn’t matter if he knew who she was, he couldn’t do her any harm. On the other hand she didn’t want to risk the prison Warden discovering who she was not to mention how she had gotten through security through false pretenses. Rodney was watching her, waiting for some kind of answer. She wasn’t getting out of this unless she cut off the interview, which she didn’t want to do. Rodney had given her something to go on, he deserved something for that. _Might as well…_

 “Donovan hurt someone very close to me,” she said. “He needs to answer for what he did and I’m going to make sure that he does.”

 “Who’d he hurt?”

            She recoiled and he took notice. He held his hands up, “I’m sorry I don’t want to pry, I don’t get many people to talk to.”

            The room was silent after that. Kelly wasn’t sure what to do, she had the information she needed but part of her wanted to stay longer. She needed to go, needed to find Donovan before he hurt anyone else. She couldn’t let that happen.

 “My mom,” she said surprising herself. “Donovan attacked my mom. Nearly beat her skull in with a piece of rebar.”

            She could see it on his face as it dawned on him exactly who she was. He was smart enough to put two and two together. She could tell he wanted to say something but was being held back by something. Maybe he didn’t want to offend her? It could be dozens of things keeping him from speaking, but before she could learn what the door flew open. Two guards piled in followed by a man dressed in a suit. He must have been the prison Warden and boy did he not look happy.

 “This interview is over,” he said to them before turning to one of the guards. “Take Mr. Wendel back to his cell.”

            Rodney went without any struggle, leaving Kelly alone with the warden and a guard. She knew how this would go. He would escort her out of the prison, threaten her with legal action, she would make some kind of comment and he would let her go. At least she hoped that was how the scenario would play out. She didn’t need to call her parents and explain to them why she needed them to bail her out of prison.

 “You, with me, now.”

            He allowed no time for arguing as he left the room the guard lagging behind until Kelly followed the prison warden. She followed them through the maze of checkpoints and halls. Kelly was finding she hated prisons as much as she hated hospitals. She was actually glad that she was leaving. Although she now had a more difficult task, breaking into Maggie’s office at the precinct. Kelly had heard Maggie discussing with Alex a case of a lawyer found dead in an alley with connects to Warden. She was hoping it wasn’t the same lawyer Rodney had told her about.

 “I should have you arrested,” the warden said as they passed through the last checkpoint.

 “You can try.”

            He stopped dead in his tracks causing Kelly to collide with his back. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he shouted. “You come into my prison, question my prisoners and now this?”

            Kelly met his gaze with a smirk. “Do really want to mess with me? You seemed all too happy to get my father out of your prison.” That got him to pause. She could see it in his eyes as he realized who exactly she was talking about. “I’ll be going, if that’s okay.” She didn’t wait for an answer. She was out the door before he could compose himself. No one came after her, no one tried to stop her.

 

 

            The drive to the precinct was short. No one gave her a second glance as she walked through the building. She was there all the time bringing her mom lunch or running information between the police and DEO. This time though she was hoping Maggie was still with Alex at the hospital, or at least at home. If Maggie were at work there was no way she would be able to get the information she needed. She nodded at a few officers as she navigated her way to the Science Division but otherwise kept her head down.

 “Kelly? What are you doing here?”

            She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of her name. She knew that voice, it was a voice she usually didn’t mind hearing but one she didn’t want to hear now. Thinking quickly she spun around plastering the biggest grin she could manage.

 “Hey Sara,” she said. “How’s it going?”

 “Been busy without your mom here, but we’re managing,” she said with a smile. “How are your moms by the way?”

 “Alex is worse for wear, but you know here. Maggie is good or is at least pretending to be,” Kelly said.

 “And you?” She reached out to squeeze Kelly’s arm. “I know it has to be hard on you.”

            Sara’s hand lingered on her arm longer than it should have. “I’m fine. I’m processing, or something…” Kelly scratched the back of her neck, the longer she was there the more she risked being caught. “Listen Maggie sent me to grab something out of her office, I want to get it before she gets home. You mind?”

            Sara let go of her. “Of course not, her office is unlocked. Just don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to.”

 “Don’t worry, I know the rules,” she said. “I owe you one.”

 “Yes you do,” Sara said. “Say dinner? Next week.”

 “If I can worm my way out of work, sure,” Kelly agreed. “I’ll call you.”

            Smiling, Sara left Kelly on her own, much to Kelly’s relief. She liked Sara she really did. She enjoyed the flirting and was always open to more than that. It didn’t bother her Sara was a couple years older than her. What really bothered her was the fact Sara worked with Maggie. Her parents were respectful of her relationships but they tended to get a little nosy. The farther she could keep her relationships from her parents work the better.

            She shook it off. It could wait, right now she needed to focus on Donovan and anything that could lead her to him. Crossing the room, passing dozens of desks she arrived at her mother’s office. The door was unlocked, which wasn’t unusual, officers knew better than to enter Maggie’s office when she wasn’t there. Kelly was not an exception to the rule, but at that moment she had to ignore it. She glanced through the blinds, not seeing anyone watching her, Sara had her back to her. Confident she wasn’t being watched, light spread around her as she sped through the files until she found what she needed.

 “God damnit…”

            He was dead. Marrison was dead. It was a dead end. How could she find Donovan with a dead man? The light around her fist began to solidify as her anger grew. _What am I supposed to do now?_ She knew the answer, but she wished she didn’t. She couldn’t do anything. _Fuck…_

            Outside of the office Sara had stopped whatever she was doing to glance towards her. Kelly collected herself forcing a grin as she waved at the officer. Beside her she opened a draw and dug through it until she found something she could pass off as the reason she was there. She could explain to Maggie later why her spare keys weren’t at the office. Once she was satisfied she shut the drawer as well as discreetly turned off the computer. She hurried out of the office and pass Sara with a small nod. Sara made to say something but didn’t get the chance before Kelly was out of sight.

            Once she was outside Kelly took a deep breath, holding it for several seconds. She was getting frustrated. When she got frustrated she stopped thinking clearly. The best thing for her to do was take a step back and reconfigure. She could find Donovan, it would just be more difficult. What she really needed was another pair of eyes, someone she trusted but didn’t know the whole story. Someone like Nick. She pulled out her phone to write a quick message.

**_‘Meet me at the alien bar 30 minutes. I need a drink.’_ **

            Satisfied Nick would be there without question she headed towards her motorcycle she had parked across the street. If she got to the bar early enough she could get a drink or two in before Nick arrived. With the way things were going she would need it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all are to kind, I am so grateful for your kind words and continued support. This chapter is long but it's worth it in my opinion. So thank you all for reading and enjoy.
> 
> Thanksgiving update! For all of you celebrating Have a great thanksgiving, for those of you not enjoy your thursday. Next chapter may be a bit delayed, I've been trying to post every two weeks but in two weeks I'll be taking my Instructor Exams and will need the time to study. In any case it will only be delayed by a day or two.

            Maggie tried so hard to get Alex home and into bed. Her wife needed to rest, even though her head injury was minor it was still an injury. In true Alex fashion the second Maggie helped her into bed, Alex yanked down on top of her, giggling as she did so. Maggie laid there for a moment, completely exasperated at her wife’s antics. It was clear to her that after a nights rest at the hospital that Alex was feeling much better. She twisted until she could see her wife’s face, feeling her resolve falter when she saw Alex’s big grin.

 “I know what you’re trying to do and the answer is no,” Maggie said sternly, but she couldn’t help but push herself up to kiss Alex gently.

 “Please,” Alex asked once Maggie pulled away.

 “Our daughter is one room over,”

 “And knowing our daughter she has headphones in with music so loud she’ll have hearing loss by the time she’s twenty-three,” Alex argued. “I’ll be quiet.”

            Maggie dropped her head onto Alex’s chest with a loud groan. “Two things,” she said holding up two fingers for emphasis. “One you have never been quiet, two, you have a concussion, if you hit your head again I have to take you back to the hospital and you get to explain to the doctor what the hell happened.”

            She could tell that she won the argument because Alex crossed her arms over her chest (or at least tried to) and pouted. Maggie knew Alex wasn’t serious, not with Kelly being around, but she would always try. Of course thinking about Kelly brought up the question, where was their daughter. If she had been in her room she would have heard them return and come out to greet them. So far there had been nothing, which had Maggie worried.

 “Once all of this is over, how about you and I take a week off and just…breathe for a little,” Maggie suggested, suddenly feeling the need to go check in on Kelly and needing an excuse to do so.

 “Like that will ever happen,” Alex said with a smile. “Go check on her, something is bound to be up if she’s this quiet. Seventeen years and not much has changed.”

 “The amount of money we spend on liquor sure has.”

            That was something they really needed to sit down with Kelly and talk about. She didn’t drink that often, but when she was stressed she handled it the same way Alex did which wasn’t healthy. They had always avoided the topic because it made them hypocritical and they knew Kelly would argue it even though she knew how unhealthy it was too. Of course Kelly could make her own decisions, they would just have to watch out for her to make sure she didn’t get herself hurt.

            Maggie crawled off of Alex, leaving her wife with a peck to the cheek, a silent way to say she’d be right back. She was only going down the hall but part of her was afraid to leave Alex alone. Leaving Alex on her own had led to her getting hurt, and even though she was in no danger in their own home Maggie was still scared. Maggie had become very protective of her family over the years, something she had never realized until recently. Alex was a warrior, a one woman army when left to her own devices, she didn’t need someone to protect her. Kelly was a strong meta-human with Alex’s determination and Maggie’s unrelenting stubbornness. It didn’t mean that Maggie didn’t try to protect them both when matters called for it.

 “Kel, you in there?” she called out knocking on the door. “Kelly, come on open up.”

            When Kelly didn’t answer on the third knock Maggie opened the door. Much to her surprise her daughter wasn’t there like she had thought. In fact it looked like her daughter hadn’t been there since the morning. The bedsheets were hanging off the bed, unmade, dirty clothes were thrown aside and forgotten about. Kelly was usually a neat person, to see her room like this told Maggie that she was extremely stressed. She looked around a bit longer trying to find anything else out of place. Kelly wasn’t one to disappear without leaving a note which Maggie had yet to find.

            She sighed. _What is she up to…?_ Immediately she wished she hadn’t asked herself that, on the ground in front of her just under her foot was a slender piece of metal. She bent down to pick it up, feeling her heart sink. _Lock pick…she didn’t…_ Maggie dropped the lock pick, turning on her heel towards her office. She turned the handle, her heart sinking further when it gave way allowing for the door to swing open. It didn’t take her long to figure out what Kelly had broken in for, she had left the file she kept on Donovan almost in plain sight. The only reason Kelly would have broken in for the file was if she was going after Donovan. It was the only explanation.

 “Mags? Is something wrong?” Alex was standing in the doorway watching her with a concerned look.

 “No, just left the door unlocked I guess,” she lied. “I guess Kelly went out with Nick.”

 “You’re a really bad liar,” Alex said crossing the room. “She went after him, didn’t she?”

            She shouldn’t have been surprised. Alex could read her like an open book. She just didn’t want Alex overexerting herself, she hadn’t been cleared for active duty yet, the doctors giving her at least a week before they wanted her back at work. Something Maggie knew would never happen, Alex would be back at the DEO by tomorrow afternoon.

 “I’ll find her,” Maggie said quickly. “I’ll call Kara, she and I can go looking.” She held up her hand knowing Alex was about to argue. “And Lori will stay here to keep you company so you don’t do anything reckless. Kelly gets that from you, y’know.”

 “I am not solely to blame for that,” Alex pointed out.

 “Go lay down,” Maggie said, her phone already in her hand. “The longer you fight me the longer I’ll keep you from work. And you won’t enjoy it.”

            Once again Alex opened her mouth to argue but was stopped by Maggie greeting Kara over the phone. She definitely was at a disadvantage with Kara on Maggie’s side, no point on arguing a fact she couldn’t win. It was hard to take a step back to let Maggie deal with this. She should be helping to find Kelly, if she was in danger Alex needed to be there.

XXXXX

 “So this Donovan guy is your biological father,” Nick asked in between bites of his wings.

            Kelly had been glad her best friend hadn’t completely gone off on her when she filled him in on what was going on (granted it was an abridged version of it but still). What she had forgotten was that she had never told Nick about the circumstances of her adoption. He never knew she was abused as a kid, never knew her father was a terrorist. Hell Nick probably didn’t even think she had a father. Knowing him like she did, he probably thought she had been lying about being adopted. She did look a lot like Alex, which she always found weird but from what she knew about her birth mother there was a resemblance between the two.

 “Yes,” Kelly said turning over another empty shot glass.

 “And he is a former Child of Liberty and use to abuse you,” Nick continued trying to work through all the new information Kelly was giving him.

 “Yes.”

 “He’s also the one who attacked your mom and is now stalking you and you’re trying to what, catch him?”

 “Something like that.”

            Nick sat back in the booth, processing all the information. If she were to tell him the truth about what she was really planning on doing to Donovan she knew he would still be behind her. He trusted her judgement, even when it was a little bit skewed. Nick was the one person she could trust with everything. He might try to stop her but he would never betray her trust by going to her parents.

 “Can I do anything?”

            Kelly smiled at him. Of course he would offer to help. He had that thing about him that almost every Superfriend had, the need to help even when there wasn’t much they could do. Since they had met Nick had looked out for her, stood up for her and been there for her. Part of her loved him for it, he was a brother she never had but secretly wished she had. With him she could be herself without having to play the protector.

 “Be there for me once this is over,” Kelly said. “That’s all you can do.”

 “I’m not going anywhere.”

            Nick smiled at her. Not one of his goofy smiles or the one he gave her when he was messing with her. It was an honest smile. One she rarely got from her. The last time he had smiled at her like that had been when he showed up at their senior prom in a dress that her mom’s (yes her mom’s) had helped him find. He had been there for her then, when her then date had freaked out because she wanted to wear a suit. Nick had offered to go with her under the condition he wore a dress. Kelly hadn’t had it in her to say no.

 “So forgetting about this fucker, why don’t we get a bottle and just cut loose?” Nick suggested. “Fuck we can get trashed go to a few clubs, meet some girls, and enjoy ourselves. What do you say?”

            Kelly thought about it for a moment. It was appealing. Besides, what else was she supposed to do? She wasn’t going to find Donovan, so why not get drunk.

 “Why the fuck not, let’s do it,” Kelly turned to the bar, spotting Zach standing there looking bored. “Hey can we get a bottle of rum, it’s on him.”

 “You got it Danvers.”

 “On me huh?” Nick laughed. “I don’t remember agreeing to this.”

 “I’ll get it next time.”

 “Uh huh sure.”

 

            An hour later they were down to a quarter of the bottle. People were starting to stare at them with their incessant laughter and half-shouting. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Kelly knew half of the patrons and the bartender they probably would have been kicked out. Nick was fairly wasted, Kelly wasn’t far behind but she held her liquor a little better than he did. She knew they would stumble out of there and head down the street to one of the clubs they frequented. Or at least that’s what she thought until Nick’s phone rang.

 “Sorry Kel,” Nick said holding up his phone. “Duty calls, mom wants me to meet some rich whatever…”

            Nick handed her he keys, knowing she would be sober a lot sooner than he would. “Get it back to me in one piece, will ya?” Kelly took the keys with a chuckle. At least he was responsible even if she wasn’t. She watched him leave before turning back to the bottle in front of her. It wouldn’t hurt to finish it on her own. She could always take off the dampener and start all over again at the next place. It was the only thing that made sense to her in that moment. She drank, feeling the warm liquid burn a trail down her throat until it was gone. Her bill was settled, and she didn’t like the looks she was starting to get from a few of the patrons.

            She stumbled out of her booth, nearly knocking some random guy over in her attempt to get to the door. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew removing the dampener would make her extremely sick for a couple minutes before she got all the alcohol out of her system. It wasn’t worth it half the time but tonight, tonight it seemed like her best option.

            Outside the air was slightly colder than it usually was for this time of the years, the wind cut through her light jacket. Normally, much like Kara and Lori, she didn’t notice it. Kelly had always run a little hot and after being treated with Haranel she felt it even less. Sometimes she took advantage of the dampener, which had been designed for meta-humans like her so they could live a relatively normal life. Hers was special though, not only did it suppress her Photokinesis, it also suppressed her Haranel enhancements. With it on she could get drunk, feel the heat and to cold, even get hurt. She liked feeling things like that from time to time.

            Other times, like in that moment, with her stomach doing flips she hated it. She sprinted behind the dumpster in the alley, barely making it behind it before everything she had drank in the last hour came back up. It just kept coming, it felt like ages before she finally dry-heaved a few times, her stomach deprived of everything. She stumbled back, barely stopping herself from running into the wall. She had been the one to drink most of the bottle, Nick had only had a few shots, and usually she was great about holding her liquor but that night it had just hit her differently.

            Kelly glanced up, trying to decide if it would be worth it to take off the dampener and drive home. She could take a Lyft, pass out on the couch and sleep it off then listen to her parents yell at her in the morning. _Her parents…_ They wouldn’t be angry, they would be disappointed. She wasn’t sure she could face them after failing to find Donovan and bring him to justice. It would have been better if she had gone through all of this and come out with something.

 “You deserve their disappointment,” she muttered to herself.

 “Young girl like yourself shouldn’t be hanging around dark alleyways.”

            Her senses were so dulled by the alcohol she hadn’t heard the man come up behind her. She had no time to react before he grabbed her, dragging her further back into the alley. His grip was tight around her shoulders. She struggled against him unable to reach the dampener. Nothing was working and her mind was so cloudy that she couldn’t remember what her parents had taught her. She had to do something.

            Thinking quickly, she went limp in the man’s arms causing him to almost drop her. When he bent to try and pull her back up, she locked her knees, digging her feet into the ground and shoved backwards. The man slammed into the wall with a grunt, his firm grasp breaking. Kelly pulled herself away, swinging around her fist raised. She stopped dead.

 “That all you got kiddo?” Donovan chuckled. “Pathetic.”

 “You sonofabitch.”

            She swung at him. Donovan easily stepped out of the way of her fist. She tried again, and again, every single time he stepped out of the way keeping clear of any blow she tried to land. The entire time he had a sick grin on his face. He was enjoying watching her struggle.

 “Where are those powers Warden is so impressed by Kelly?” he began to tease her. “From what I’m seeing all you are is a drunk.”

            Kelly went after him again. He didn’t dodge her, he simply turned his body in a way that his fist connected with her stomach before hers did with his face. She collapsed to the ground, all the air leaving her lungs. He stood over her as she struggled to breath, watching her. She hated it, she wouldn’t let him do this to her. Kelly rolled onto her side, blocking his view allowing her to reach under her shirt to remove the dampener. It set her body on fire as she felt it all come back to her, she took a deep breath, it was her turn to watch him struggle. She pushed herself to her knees only for Donovan to kick her in the gut. This time though she felt nothing, but he did. She rose to her feet, the light starting to dance around her limbs.

            Donovan shrunk back his confidence having disappeared. Seventeen years had passed since he had last seen her user her powers. Back then it had been small things, like orbs of light she would form to use as a night light. Now she could manipulate it in hundreds of ways, into weapons, shields, armor (the last was debatable it never lasted very long). He had never seen what she was truly capable of.

 “You really want to know what I can do?” she growled, her knuckles turning white from her clenching them so tightly.  “I’m going to kill you for what you did.”

            She was on him in an instant, her hands grasping the collar of his shirt so roughly the fabric tore. He scratched at her arms to no effect, terror replacing the smug look he had had only moments ago. She could have done it there, broken his neck, stabbed him through the gut, but she needed answers first. She needed to know who he worked for and what their plan was before she killed him. _The roof…that will work._ Donovan was light compared to some of the aliens she fought. She had no trouble flying above the roof stopping nearly fifteen feet above the building.

 “Why did you attack my parents?”

 “They aren’t your parents,” Donovan sneered, his grip around her list tightening. “That bitch took you from me, you are my daughter!”

            Kelly let go of his shirt, his grip not tight enough to keep him from falling, he fell the fifteen feet onto the roof with a resounding thud. She slowly followed, landing quietly next to him. He groaned in pain as she circled him. It must have hurt, but to be honest she didn’t think it had hurt enough. She kicked him hard enough to crack ribs, his body went sailing across the roof only coming to a stop at the wall.

 “How does it feel Donovan?” Kelly went over to him, grabbed his arm and forced him to sit up only to punch him in the face. “You still think I’m pathetic? Or are you scared?”

            Donovan spit out blood and a piece of a tooth before looking up at Kelly. “You’ll have to do more than that to get a reaction out of me.” He grinned, his teeth stained red and more blood slowly running from the corner of his mouth. “I’ll admit Warden was right, you are special, and boy have you grown. You’ll be perfect for what the Warden has in mind.”

 “Fuck you.”

Kelly hit him again.

XXXXX

 “Anything Kara?”

            Maggie and Kara had left Alex and Lori over an hour ago to look for Kelly. They had started at the prison, only learning that Kelly had been after information on Donovan, which they had already known. From there they ended up at the police station. Sara had told them Kelly had stopped by saying she was picking stuff up for Maggie, and that she had left in a hurry. After that they had no lead. Brainy couldn’t find her signature anywhere in the entire city, which told Maggie she had a dampener on. That meant one of two things; either she was getting drunk in some bar or, she was trying to hide from them knowing they would have eventually figured out what she was doing.

 “Nothing,” Kara sighed. “Any idea where else she might be?”

            Maggie pulled her Triumph to the side of the rode so she could hang her head. “She could be anywhere in the city.” She shook her head in her hands. “Why the fuck would she do this?”

 “Don’t do this to yourself,” Kara’s voice was soft, but not what she needed to hear.

 “Do what Kara?” Maggie nearly shouted. “Kelly is going to get herself killed all because Alex and I can’t protect her.”

            Kara landed next to Maggie sending a cloud of dirt up around them. Her sister-in-law looked defeated. She knew Maggie had every right to be worried. Kelly had been acting strange when Kara had come by the night before but she hadn’t thought anything of it. Her mother had just been attacked, how was she supposed to act after something like that? Kelly wasn’t violent though, she wouldn’t attack someone without provocation and she would never kill anyone. Kara was sure of that.

 “Have you tried calling Nick?” Kara suggested.

 “Kara she’s not going to be with Nick,” Maggie said her frustration clearly growing.

 “What’s the harm in checking?”

            Maggie glared at her from behind her helmet. Normally she would have checked with Nick if Kelly had gone MIA but this was different. Nick wasn’t aware of Kelly’s past, she had never told him about Donovan or the circumstances of her adoption. It was the one thing Kelly had never been comfortable talking about with him. So why, after all these years, would Kelly suddenly go to Nick about this? She dug her phone out of her pocket and handed it to Kara. She didn’t think she could handle talking to Nick at the moment.

            Kara rolled her eyes at Maggie. For someone who was so concerned with finding Kelly she wasn’t being the most helpful. It took Kara a few minutes to find Nick’s number but once she did she called him. The phone rang five times before Nick finally answered.

 “Nick, hey it’s Kara.”

 “Kara? Why are you using Maggie’s phone?” Nick sounded like he was in a room with a lot of people. If it weren’t for her super hearing she might have had trouble hearing him.

 “Long story,” Kara said. “Listen are you with Kelly? Or do you know where she is? It’s important.”

 “Is she in trouble?”

 “Nicolas please…” Kara rarely resorted to calling her nieces best friend by his full name but she needed him to answer her question.

            Nick fell silent. Kara heard him shuffling out of wherever he was until the background fell silent. “We went to that alien bar, you know the one, we drank a lot, I had to leave for a family thing,” she could hear the annoyance in his voice. “Last I saw her she was still there, drunk as I was…”

 “Thanks Nick.”

            She hung up before he responded, handing the phone back to Maggie. “Alien bar, let’s go.” Maggie took the phone, shoving it back in her pocket. Kara had already searched that area and hadn’t found her. She was willing to trust Nick if he had been with Kelly that she might still be there. Kara took off in front of her leaving her to rev her engine and take off after her. The faster they got there the better it would be.

 

            Kara arrived at the bar only seconds ahead of Maggie in the alley that led to the bar. Maggie came up beside her once her bike was parked only to kneel down to pick up a broken dampener. She was here. The dampener was a bad sign. A broken dampener was worse, something had to have happened.

 “Answer me Goddamnit!”

            They heard her before they saw her. Kara pointed up towards the roof. It wasn’t obvious at first but Maggie could see a glowing yellow light that told her it was Kelly. They didn’t have to say anything. Kara grabbed ahold of Maggie lifting her off the ground. They landed on the roof behind Kelly. Maggie finding it hard to find her footing, she hated flying with Kara.

            Maggie’s heart sank when her gaze fell on Kelly. Her daughter’s hand was covered in blood, the light around her was wrapped around her arm tightly waiting to be manipulated into something else. Below her was Donovan, his face bloody from being hit repeatedly. Even soaked in his own blood he was grinning up at Kelly and when his looked to Maggie and Kara his smile spread even wider. Above him the light around Kelly’s arm had slowly formed what resembled a blade, extending from her elbow out past her hand.

            Kara reacted faster than she did, shooting forward in attempt to pull Kelly away from Donovan. Kelly didn’t even turn around, she could feel Kara behind her and the light around her reacted almost like it was alive. Kara stopped dead raising her hands. She didn’t think Kelly would hurt her but Kelly was starting to scare her.

 “Kelly you don’t want to do this,” she said as calmly as she could.

 “Stay out of it Supergirl,” Kelly growled. “He has to pay for what he’s done.”

 “Not like this,” Kara said. She needed to keep Kelly’s attention in order for Maggie to get up behind her. “You kill him there is no going back.”

 “Maybe I don’t want to go back,” Kelly shouted, pressing the edge of the blade against Donovan’s neck.

 “Do it,” Donovan urged her. “Kill me.”

 “Kelly stop!”

            Maggie ran at Kelly ignoring whatever danger she could find herself in. She grabbed Kelly, trying to pull her back but Kelly didn’t budge. She was so much stronger than Maggie, it was like trying to move a brick wall. Kara followed her lead, grabbing Kelly’s other arm and forcing her back. She had much better success moving Kelly than Maggie had on her own. Kelly fought against them as they pulled her away but Kara’s grasp on her was like steel. Maggie had to hold onto her arm with everything she had.

 “Just stop, please kiddo just stop…”

            The light started to disappear from around her. Kara and Maggie found themselves having to hold Kelly up. The fight had just left her completely. They had managed to bring her back to her senses. Her entire body was shaking violently. Maggie felt that if she didn’t hold onto her she would shake apart.

            Donovan pushed himself into a sitting position. Laughing through his broken teeth, spitting blood in their direction. Maggie’s hand went to her gun, but she didn’t draw it. She was afraid if she did that Kelly would snap out of her daze and go after Donovan again.

 “I honestly didn’t think she had it in her,” he said. “But honestly Detective was it really a good idea to save me? After what I did to Agent Danvers?”

 “Shut up.”

 “I enjoyed every fucking second of it, hurting the woman who took everything from me,” he shouted.

 “Shut up!” Maggie pulled her gun, releasing Kelly’s arm. “You shut up right now.”

            Maggie took one step forward, ignoring Kara shouting at her. She didn’t want to do this in front of Kelly but what choice did she have. Her finger went to the trigger, it would be fast, easy. Kelly would be okay, she had to be. Donovan grinned, that shit-eating grin he always had on his face. Then everything went red. Maggie, Kelly and Kara were thrown back by a wave of red light. Before she fell Maggie saw Warden hovering not far behind Donovan, her kinesis fully active.

            Kelly’s suit activated shielding her upper body from the kinetic blow. The other two weren’t as lucky, both of them hit the ground hard. Kelly watched Warden, who moved like a shadow through the red light around her. Anger bubbled deep in her chest but she didn’t move, waiting to see what Warden did. Warden was watching her back, landing just in front of Donovan. She cocked her head turning towards Donovan, her hand outstretched.

 “Are you alright?”

 “Yeah, face hurts like a bitch,” he said taking her hand. “I don’t suppose you can fix that?”

            Warden pulled him to his feet, giving him a once over. The entire left side of his face was swollen and bloody. She reached up to press on his cheek bone. He immediately flinched way from her.

 “Something is broken, or multiple things are broken,” Warden said. “Get back to Thorul, she’ll make sure you get proper care for it.”

 “And what about them?”

 “You’ve done your part, leave me to do mine.”

 “You won’t get away with this,” Kara growled

            Kara was attempting to get to her feet, Kelly reached out for her but it was too late. A kinetic blast from Warden sent Kara back to the ground.

 “Don’t be too sure,” Warden said. “My quarrel isn’t with you Supergirl, at least not right now. I want her.”

            She pointed to Kelly, waiting for her to get to her feet. “You’re going to forget about Donovan for now, and come after me.”

 “Kelly don’t,” Maggie warned.

            It fell on deaf ears. Kelly was on her feet seconds later. Warden smiled, this was going to be easier than she thought.

 “And to make sure we aren’t followed,” Warden reached into a pouch on her hip and pulled out some type of device.

            Kelly didn’t see her throw it but suddenly Maggie was screaming in pain. One glance told her she was being electrocuted. Warden disappeared seconds later in a streak of red. Kelly hesitated, she wanted to help Maggie, but she needed to know.

 “I’m sorry.”

            She ran to the edge of the roof, taking a huge leap off of it before her kinesis activated and she took off after Warden. Kara ran over to Maggie, tearing at the device that had latched itself onto her arm.

 “Go after her, keep her safe Kara.”

 “Okay, okay.”

            Donovan was gone, he had disappeared right before Warden took off. It was the only reason Kara felt okay to leave her alone. As long as Kelly was like this, not thinking of the danger she was running into, she was in danger of getting killed. Kara wouldn’t let that happen.

XXXXX

            Kelly launched herself forward with a burst of energy she did not realize she had. She was directly on top of Warden now. They had flown out past the city limits, out of the way of anyone who could get hurt. She summoned kinetic energy to hey hand before throwing her arm forward. A solid whip of light wrapped around Warden’s ankle. Kelly yanked back then quickly flew downward, dragging Warden with her. She pulled Warden as close to her as possible, twisting in a way that put the other Meta below her. Her plan was simple; hit the ground hard.

            Warden struggled but with Kelly’s superior strength there was no breaking free from her. They hit the dirt with so much force it shook the ground around them. Warden lost the air from her lungs and begun to gasp for air. Kelly was in much better shape. She pushed herself off of the woman reaching behind her for the staff attached to her lower back. If Donovan wouldn’t give her information, Warden would. Then she could kill Donovan for what he did.

 “I’ve already warned you Warden, you can’t beat me.”

            By now Warden had regained her ability to breath. She started to push to her feet. Kelly noticed something different about her. All of her previous encounters with Warden, the woman had been cocky, eager to fight. This time the taunting was gone, she wasn’t trying to fight. Something was going on, Kelly could feel it.

 “Fight me!”

 “No I’m not here to fight you Flare,” Warden said, the light disappearing from around her. “I want to offer you a deal.”

 “What makes you think I care?”

 “You should,” Warden was walking towards her, brushing the dirt from her black armor. “You love your family, I can see that. I’m offering you the chance to save them. If you join us, I will spare them, no harm will come to them, you have my word.”

 “And Supergirl?”

 “She still has to die. I can’t fix that,” Warden sighed.

            Kelly shook her head. Warden didn’t know her aunt Kara was Supergirl. She wasn’t about to sacrifice her aunt to save the rest of her family. She couldn’t.

 “How about this, you give me Supergirl, I give you Donovan.”

            Somewhere in the distance Kelly could hear Kara coming her way. She must have followed them after Kelly took off after Warden. _I could never do that to Lori…_ Warden held out her hand, nodding towards it.

 “Your loyalty and Supergirl for your family’s safety and Donovan’s head,” she repeated. “What do you say?”

            She was shaking again, worse then before. It would be easy to take the deal, her family would be safe, and Donovan would be taken care of. But Kara…she couldn’t do that, she couldn’t let her aunt die. She couldn’t and wouldn’t be a part of that. Warden dropped her hand, her head shaking.

 “I expect to hear from you, Flare. Ms. Thorul doesn’t like to be left waiting.”

            Warden took off just as Kara landed behind her. Kelly could only stare at her hands, unable to bring herself to look up at her aunt. Was she really considering sacrificing one person to protect four? No…no. Kara caught her before she collapsed, holding her close.

 “I gotcha, you’re okay,” she muttered to Kelly.

            Kelly was vaguely aware of Kara speaking to someone else through an earpiece. She didn’t listen, she couldn’t, to overwhelmed by what Warden had said to her. She was part of a plan that she had no say in, she realized that now. She had been played, toyed with, pushed to the brink and for what?

 “Come on Kel, I’m taking you home.”

XXXXX

            Lori heard Maggie’s Triumph approaching the house before Alex did, followed shortly after by a quiet thud as Kara landed in the driveway. She didn’t get up knowing her aunt was already worried enough about Kelly. Instead she kept trying to keep Alex’s focus on what they were doing, which was playing cards. She could hear Kelly’s heartbeat but it was different, too fast, almost beating out of her chest. Even Maggie’s heart was racing, they only one who seemed calm was Kara.

            The door swung open. Alex jumped up, nearly tripping over her own feet when Kara entered with Kelly’s arm over her shoulder. Maggie Was on Kelly’s other side with her other arm slung over her shoulders. Together the two of them were basically dragging Kelly into the house. From what Alex could see Kelly wasn’t hurt but something was seriously wrong.

 “What happened?” Alex went over to them, looking Kelly over but seeing nothing wrong.

            Maggie shook her head. “I’ll fill you in later,” she said adjusting her hold on Kelly. “Kara found her, she not responding to us.”

 “Is she okay,” Lori asked from her spot on the couch.

            Kara glanced at her daughter, “I don’t know.” Lori came around to join them wanting to hug her cousin, but hesitating when she saw how Kelly wasn’t focused on anything.

 “Kelly?”

            Much to everyone’s surprise Kelly turned her head to look at Lori, her eyes finally focusing on something. She stared for the longest time before letting out what could only be considered a sob. She hung her head again, her shaking returning. Maggie leaned farther into Kelly trying to account for the sudden shift in wait as Kelly’s legs gave out from under her.

 “Kara you and Lori head home,” she said. “Alex and I can handle this.”

            Kara didn’t argue. She released her hold on Kelly, moving to gather Lori. Her daughter stood firm, not wanting to leave her cousin in the state she was in. It hurt Kara’s heart to see her daughter so concerned for her cousin and not being able to do a damn thing about it. She put her arm around Lori’s shoulder, gently guiding her away from the door.

            Once they were gone Alex took Kara’s place next to Kelly and helped Maggie take Kelly to her old room. The second she reached the bed she collapsed onto the mattress, her suit finally collapsing down on itself. Alex’s initial reaction was to stay with Kelly, no matter how long it took. But Maggie was already urging her out of the room. Kelly needed to be alone after whatever happened and they needed to talk.

 “What the hell happened Maggie,” Alex asked the second Kelly’s bedroom door was shut.

            Maggie didn’t respond verbally, she couldn’t find the right words as of yet. She pulled Alex to her, hugging her as tightly as possible. Alex hugged her back, realizing Maggie needed her to feel grounded. She was shaken from whatever had happened when she found Kelly. It terrified Alex, but in that moment Maggie needed her.

 “Let’s go to bed,” Alex suggested. “We can talk about this in the morning.”

            Maggie nodded against her chest, unwilling to let her wife go. It wasn’t the first time they had been so shaken by something that they couldn’t stand to let the other go. Over the years it had happened hundreds of times, where one of them came home from a really hard day and just needed to be held. They would fall asleep fully dressed, holding on to one another just so they didn’t fall apart. And as worried as Alex was for Kelly she knew her daughter was holding together, even though she didn’t seem like it. She was a Danvers and Danvers always pulled through.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I had enough time between finishing my IDC and studying for my IE to write this chapter. Yes I realize Kelly’s mood fluctuates a lot, but she is an emotional person who has never fought with her parents. In any case this chapter was fun, update in a couple of weeks (I’ll be alone for the holidays to plenty of time to write).

            Kara was quieter than usual when she got up to make breakfast. She hadn’t told Lena good morning, or given her the usual morning kiss. She went about her routine barely acknowledging her wife or daughter. Lena found it concerning that Kara was shutting them out. It was rare for her to do, and whenever it happened it was because something serious was going on that Kara just couldn’t bring herself to talk about. Even Lori was unusually quiet. Something had happened the other night that neither of the Kryptonians wanted to talk about.

 “Lori do me a favor and go get the flash drive in my office computer,” Lena said crossing her arms. Kara was going to talk to her one way or another.

            Lori went almost immediately, leaving Kara alone with Lena. Kara seemed to understand what was happening because she set her spatula aside to look at her.

 “Start talking.”

            Kara sighed. She didn’t want to do this with Lori in the house. The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to hear how unraveled her cousin had become. It worried Kara just how much like Alex, Kelly was. She remembered when Jeremiah had returned and Alex had beaten a prisoner with the intent to kill if he didn’t give her what she wanted. The problem was when that had happened Alex had refused to see how far she had fallen. Kara worried that Alex would ignore Kelly’s act of violence in the same way she had ignored her own.

 “I don’t want to do this with Lori here,” Kara said.

 “Kara what happened last night,” Lena asked refusing to let it go. “What is going on with you?”

            Lena flipped off the stove. Kara was going to talk to her one way or another, but she’d be damned to let another fire happen in her kitchen. She followed Kara over to the couch, thankful that Lori had decided to take as long as possible to get the drive she asked for.  

 “When Maggie and I found Kelly she was seconds away from killing Donovan,” Kara finally admitted. “I mean if we had been a second later she would have.”

 “You wouldn’t have been responsible for that Kara,” Lena said. “We all make decisions, they aren’t always the right ones.

 “It’s not that,” Kara left the couch to move over to the sliding glass door that led to the balcony. “I’m worried Alex is going to sweep this under the rug.”

 “Your sister would never do that,” Lena assured her.

            Kara wasn’t too sure. Alex would do anything to protect Kelly, she wouldn’t let one miss-step define her daughter. She had never seen Kelly that angry, that shaken since she’d known her. Something had changed in Kelly that had Kara scared, but she knew Alex wouldn’t see it.

 “She wanted to kill him Lena,” Kara said. “I could see it, she didn’t care what would happen to her.”

 “Kara sometimes you have to do things that aren’t right, it doesn’t mean you want to do them,” Lena was beginning to get angry. “I killed my own brother, because I had no other choice. He would have never stopped if I hadn’t pulled that trigger. What makes Kelly any different?”

 “Because she’s not you.”

            She regretted the words the second they passed through her lips. She didn’t want to drudge anything up from the past that happened between her and Lena. Of course she had failed miserably at it.

            Lena bit her lip, and not in the way Kara found sexy, in the way that Kara was afraid of. There was a distinct difference between the two, Lena’s icy stare. She never wanted to see it again after what happened during the Crisis. But sometimes she messed up and earned herself that look.

 “She’s your niece Kara, and right now she needs all of us,” Lena said coolly. “You should know that.”

            Kara made to apologize but Lori chose that exact moment to return. She wouldn’t subject Lori to their arguing. Lori went over to Lena, handing her the flash drive. It was then Kara realized just how much Lori’s brief interaction with Kelly had affected her. Lori was extremely smart, she knew when something was wrong. Seeing her cousin in that state must have been hard for her.

 “Come on Lori, let me take you to school,” Kara said with a short glance at Lena.

 “I think I’m gonna walk,” Lori said. “If that’s okay.”

 “Of course it is sweetie,” Lena went over to Lori giving her a quick hug. “I know you’re worried, but Kelly will be alright.”

            Lori nodded but they could both see she didn’t believe Lena. She left, not bothering to say goodbye to Kara. Lena sighed, the entire situation complicated things. She knew there was no way Alex would allow Kelly to continue working on the Warden situation. This meant she would have to develop something to protect Kara against Warden’s Photokinesis. Which also meant more late nights at L-Corp. If she didn’t want to end up locked in her lab for a week with minimal rest she needed to get a start on everything.

 “You’re mad at me,” Kara said as she watched Lena gather her things. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

 “Kara, yes I’m mad, and yes you are most definitely sleeping alone tonight, but,” Lena went over to her, brushing a stray hair out of Kara’s face, “I know you are under a lot of stress. I’m going to work on a suit upgrade for you.”

            Kara nodded her eyes downcast at the floor. She should be handling this better than she was, she was Supergirl for Rao’s sake. She was supposed to be the compassionate one who saw the good in everyone. Yet she was standing there judging her niece on something she knew nothing about. Something her wife understood better than all of them, but she had refused to see it that way. Some hero she was.

XXXXX

            Alex dumped her coffee into the sink only to fill her cup up again. She didn’t want to drink it, her stomach still doing flips, but she was so tired. She hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, having stayed up worrying about Kelly. Maggie hadn’t been much better off, but had still gotten more sleep than Alex. Neither of them were sure how to approach Kelly. Alex was furious, she wanted to chew Kelly out for what she had done, punish her by removing her from the case. Whatever it took to get her to understand that she couldn’t step out of line like that if she was ever going to be part of the DEO.

            Maggie wasn’t so sure that confronting Kelly was the right course of action. She thought that Kelly was in too fragile of a state. It was impossible to tell. The night before she had been completely disassociated from them, any form of reprimand would have fallen on deaf ears. There was no telling what kind of state she would be in that morning. Alex was prepared for the worst. Maggie on the other hand held onto the hope Kelly would be back to normal, or at the very least a relative normal after what she had gone through.

 “How have we let this get this far?” Alex said dumping her coffee out again. “With Donovan and Warden? The DEO has had no luck tracking Warden, we can’t even find her kinetic signature. Even Brainy is clueless and Brainy is never clueless.”

 “We’re missing something, that’s the only explanation,” Maggie said with a sigh as Alex held out her mug again. “Would you please stop pouring out the coffee?”

 “Sorry,” she said rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. “I just…”

            She trailed off, unable to finish her thought. Kelly was standing just outside the kitchen watching the two of them. She had changed from her clothes from the night before but her hands were still stained in Donovan’s blood. Either she didn’t realize it was there or she didn’t care. What caught Alex off guard was that Kelly didn’t look tired or defeated like she had the night before. Now she looked irritated.

            Alex glanced at Maggie. Her wife looked as confused as she felt. Kelly didn’t speak as she joined them by the counter. She grabbed her own coffee cup, taking the pot from Maggie’s hands to pour herself a cup. To Alex her daughter looked like she was in a hurry to be anywhere but there.

 “Hang on Kel,” Maggie said when Kelly made a beeline for the front door. “What’s the rush?”

 “Have to pick up my motorcycle before class,” she said. “Would hate to cause any more problems for you.”

 “Hey that’s uncalled for,” Alex said surprised of her daughter’s sudden outburst. This wasn’t like her at all.

 “Are you serious?” she said in disbelief. Her grip was so tight on the door handle it was starting to bend. “Why did you stop me? If you’re so worried about him why did you stop me?”

            Maggie realized that Kelly must have overheard their conversation. It explained her irritation, and her shortness with them. It hurt that Kelly was so angry with her and for no real reason. Maggie had been trying to protect her and all Kelly could see was that she had been stopped from hurting a dangerous man. A man that had traumatized her as a child. One look at Alex and she knew her wife was angry but was holding her tongue.

 “I’m going to class.”

            She left before they could respond. Alex could see Maggie was hurt. Why shouldn’t she be? She understood Kelly was angry, she was to, but to take it out on them was completely out of line.

 “She didn’t mean that Maggie,” Alex squeezed Maggie’s shoulder only to have her pull away.

 “Yes she did,” Maggie set the coffee pot back in its place. “She isn’t wrong either.”

            Alex let her leave, realizing that nothing she had to say would make Maggie feel any better. This had to stop. The entire situation was starting to tear her family apart, she had to stop it before any more damage was done. There was only one way to do so, Kelly would hate her for it but she would get over it. She took out her phone so she could pull up her text conversation with Kelly. Line’s had been crossed and Kelly had broken the rules, she had to do this.

  ** _‘Be at the DEO at 5:00pm, no later, we need to discuss the plan moving forward.’_**

            _A plan that doesn’t involve you…_ Alex thought as she sent the message to Kelly. She had decided the night before that from then on Kelly would have no part in DEO activities. Put simply Alex was grounding her, for lack of a better word, no more Flare, no more DEO, not until the situation was dealt with. Kelly would fight her, tooth and nail, but at this point Alex couldn’t deal with it any longer. It had been a mistake to give Kelly the lead. She could fight Warden, sure, but she was irresponsible. Alex should have seen this coming.

            She went to find Maggie, to let her know what was going on, but Maggie was already on her way out the door. She was frustrated, Alex knew that but there was nothing she could do to fix that. Maggie stopped long enough to kiss her wife goodbye before she left without a word. Alex couldn’t blame her, but she also couldn’t dwell on it. She needed to get to the DEO to put plans together on how they were going to handle Warden.

XXXXX

            Ms. Thorul was furious when Warden returned. She was an intimidating woman to begin with, but when she was angry she was a hundred times worse. Even Warden was afraid of her when she got that angry. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the rage hadn’t been directed at her. She could leave and wait for Ms. Thorul to calm down. This time though all of it was directed at her, and there was nowhere she could run.

 “What the hell if wrong with you?” she shouted, “are you some kind of idiot? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

 “Of course not,” Warden was backed against the wall, with Ms. Thorul only a foot away and closing. “We weren’t getting anywhere with Flare, we needed to push her.”

 “So you go behind my back, and nearly get my asset killed?”

            _Our asset…_ Warden thought, but she held her tongue. Ms. Thorul’s patience was not to be tested, especially by her. She could be replaced with someone who followed her rules and her words without question or hesitation. Warden use to be like that, she would have done anything for Ms. Thorul and she had for the longest time. Something had changed after she killed her Earth’s Supergirl and Superman, something that caused her to no longer hang on every word Ms. Thorul spoke. She still believed in their mission, she just felt that things needed to be handled differently.

 “That’s why I was there, to ensure he didn’t get killed,” Warden said.

 “Not only that, you offered his life in exchange for Supergirl,” Ms. Thorul said, ignoring her. “That isn’t part of the plan, Donovan is not a bargaining piece, he is are only way of controlling Flare.”

 “Why is he so important?” Warden finally snapped. “We can control her just fine. Someone like her is easy to manipulate.”

 “Take that mask off,” Ms. Thorul ordered. “And get out of that ridiculous suit, now.”

            Her words were final. Warden knew where this was going and was regretting it already. She should have never gone behind her back. It wasn’t like this was the first time she was reprimanded for going against Ms. Thorul’s orders. Nevertheless she did as she was told, stripping out of her suit until she was in nothing but her pants and shirt. The whole process took several minutes as the suit was thick and heavy. She felt exposed without it, she rarely took it off, even to sleep.

 “Take one good look at yourself Warden. You are nothing without me, I made you, I gave you that suit, and I gave you the opportunity to become more. Don’t you ever go behind my back again.”

 “Yes, ma’am,” Warden said. “It won’t happen again, I won’t disappoint you.”

            Ms. Thorul smiled, a cold heartless smile, as she gently ran her fingers down Warden’s jaw line. “I know you won’t, because this is your last warning.” Her grip tightened around Warden’s neck, her fingernails digging into her skin, drawing blood. Warden remained still, allowing Ms. Thorul to basically strangle her. It would be over soon, she would let go, leaving Warden to tuck her tail and lick her wounds in a corner.

 “Get out of my sight.” Ms. Thorul released her grasp on Warden. “I have to figure out a way to fix this mess.”

            Warden rubbed her neck, smearing blood in the process. “Yes ma’am.”

XXXXX

            Alex had a migraine. She sat alone in the DEO meeting room with the blinds down and all the lights off. The only light came from the small windows near the ceiling. Her entire day had been one cluster after another. Brainy was no closer to finding Warden’s kinetic signature than her had been yesterday, though he had come up with a theory as to why, which made sense so Alex didn’t question it. Whoever Warden was working for had a way to hide her kinetic signature, the tech existed but they couldn’t figure out where it had come from.

            Aside from that Maggie had been silent since she left for work, not even bothering to check in at lunch like she did just about every day. Alex didn’t blame her, but it still hurt that Maggie was shutting her out. Kelly on the other hand had been very vocal in her texts. Her daughter was angry, she had every right to be, but she was taking it out on the wrong person. To top it all off Alex had gotten a call from Kara not long after Maggie had left letting her know that Kara and Lena had had a fight. It was more drama that she didn’t need. What she needed was the Superfriends to get their shit together and work as a team.

 “Hey you,” behind her Maggie had slipped into the room, trying to be as quiet as possible. “Brainy said you had a migraine. You doing alright?”

 “Ask me again in an hour,” Alex sighed. “I’m removing Kelly from the case, permanently, I’m also restricting her access to the DEO. I don’t want her anywhere near this. And don’t try to change my mind.”

 “I wasn’t going to,” Maggie said, taking a seat near Alex. “She’ll be mad, and she’s going to storm off and not talk to us, but she’ll forgive us eventually.”

 “I don’t know,” Alex said. “I guess we’ll have to see.”

            Maggie could tell the conversation was done when Alex didn’t elaborate. She was struggling with Kelly right now. Things had never gotten this bad between them, the biggest fight they had ever had was about the whole vigilante thing Kelly had started when she was eighteen. This was something even Maggie hadn’t expected Kelly wasn’t listening she was being controlled by her anger, something so unlike her. It made Maggie wonder just how badly Donovan had impacted her in the few short years he had been a part of her life.

 “Are we interrupting?” Lena had poked her head into the room, keeping both Kara and Lori back.

 “No,” Alex said waving her hand to motion them in. “We were just discussing our next step.”

 “Where’s Kelly?” Lori was glancing around expectantly. “She’s supposed to be here right?”

            Alex glanced at her watch. **_4:58pm_**. Kelly was cutting it close, but she hadn’t expected anything less from her daughter at this point. _She’ll be here…she may be angry but she’s smart, she’ll show up._ Her chest grew tight, she did hadn’t considered that Kelly may go after Donovan on her own a second time. It would be reckless, and as reckless as she could be, would she really do that?

            The answer was no. At **5:00** sharp there was a small telltale _thud_ outside the conference room before Kelly sauntered in. She looked no better than she had this morning, she actually looked more exhausted then before. But upon seeing her cousin she grinned, the grin disappeared the second she looked at Alex, replaced by a grimace.

 “Good everyone’s here…” Alex turned on the lights, blinking a few times as her migraine flared. “We have a lot to discuss, starting with you Lena. Progress report on the suit?”

 “Slow going,” Lena said. “There’s been a few setbacks, components I’m missing, parts of the equation I just don’t have, things like that. With any luck I’ll have a working prototype in two weeks, but that’s only if I can figure out how to block ambient light from being drained from a person. It isn’t easy.”

            Alex nodded, deep in thought. Two weeks was too much time, this needed to be done quicker. “I need it done in a week,” she held up a hand to stop Lena’s argument. “Any resources you need from the DEO will be at your disposal, including Brainy. Whatever you need you’ll have it.” She had been withholding resources for one reason and one reason alone, the Secretary of Defense had been on her for months about allocating DEO resources to L Corp. At this point she didn’t care what he did, Lena was a DEO consultant.

 “I appreciate it.”

 “What about you Kara,” Alex turned to her sister. “You’ve combed over the city dozens of time, still not finding anything?”

 “No, it’s like Warden only exists when she wants to be seen. Same with Donovan, it’s like they vanish.”

            They were all aware of the enigma that Warden was, but the fact Donovan was able to pull the same stunts bothered Alex. They were missing something and had yet to figure out what it was and that pissed Alex off.

 “Mags any progress on the Marrison case?”

            Her wife crossed her arms, glancing at Kelly. “Thanks to Kelly’s stunt at the prison yes, or at least now we know his connection. There’s still a lot we don’t know but we’re finding a lot of off-shore accounts money was being funneled into. Marrison was working under someone other than Donovan, we just can’t figure out who.”

            So Kelly’s antics hadn’t been for nothing. “Get whatever information you can to Brainy, maybe he can find out who was paying Marrison.” Maggie nodded, she didn’t mind handing this case over to the DEO. In fact she preferred it, the farther this case was away from her the better.

 “Kelly?”

            She shrugged, she hadn’t learned much, and after her talk with Rodney everything had been a blur. She barely remembered hurting Donovan, let alone what happened with Warden. “We were right about Warden working under someone, what’s been made very clear is their intent,” Kelly glanced at Kara, as mad as she was they needed to know what Warden intended to do. “They want me to join them, that’s all this has ever been about. She offered me a deal after what happened with Donovan…” she trailed off not sure how much she should tell them. On the one hand they should know the entire truth, on the other they might see her as a liability and that was the last thing she wanted.

 “It’s alright Kel,” Alex’s voice was soft.

 “Whoever she’s working for wants Supergirl dead,” Kelly said after a long pause. “She offered me Donovan’s life for Kara’s.”

            She didn’t tell them about the other half of the deal, she couldn’t. With the way her parents were right now she didn’t think they would trust her. All of the adults were exchanging glances of concern. Lena moved closer to Kara, taking her wife’s hand in hers. Kelly felt horrible, she shouldn’t have told them.

 “Alright, alright” Alex said, “Things are going to change. Kara you’ll be taking the lead on this from now on, Lena I’m sorry but I need you in your lab working on that suit as much as possible, I’ll get you whatever you need. Maggie you and Brainy get together to trace that money trail and Kelly I’m sorry but I can’t have you here at all. You’ve become a liability and with Warden coming after you so hard well I can’t be worrying about you.”

 “What?” Kelly barely managed to keep from shouting. “You can’t be serious? Kara can’t even fight Warden.”

 “Not now Kelly,” Maggie tried to calm her down put Kelly pulled away.

 “Is this because of Donovan? Because of what I did?” She could feel her kinesis flare up, light wrapping around her hands. “Don’t tell me you weren’t planning to kill him, don’t tell me I wasn’t going to be doing you a favor.”

 “That’s enough,” Alex snapped. Gone was Alex Danvers and in her place was Director Danvers. “Everyone out, I need a minute with Kelly.”

            Lena nodded ushering Kara and Lori out of the room. Maggie lingered behind, she knew what was coming and knew Kelly wasn’t going to take it well. Alex met her eye with a look that said, “ _you two Maggie, please._ ” Maggie nodded, her fingers lightly brushed Alex’s hand.

            She hesitated when she reached Kelly. Her daughter was angry, her kinesis was acting on its own, something that happened when she was like this. The last thing Maggie wanted was to push Kelly too far. In the end she squeezed Kelly’s shoulder and left before she could see Kelly’s reaction.

            Once they were alone Kelly crossed her arms, the light disappearing, trying to make herself look more intimidating. Alex didn’t bite, Kelly had learned it from her and she wouldn’t be fazed by it.

 “Didn’t want them hearing how hypocritical you are?” Kelly said.

 “It has nothing to do with that,” Alex said.

 “Then what is it?” Kelly was almost shouting. “Why are you stopping me when you planned to do the exact goddamn thing?”

            Alex found herself rubbing her temples, feeling her migraine intensify. She knew Kelly was frustrated, she was to, but Kelly needed to understand things from her point of view. Not as her mother but as the Director of the DEO. She was worried, yes, she was scared she would lose her daughter. But she also had to worry about her agents and Kara, it was her job.

 “It’s different,” it was all she could think of to say.

 “No it isn’t.”

 “Goddamnit Kelly it is,” Alex shouted finally losing her patience. “I never wanted you to be like that. I want you to be better than I was.”

            Kelly shrunk back at the harshness of Alex’s voice. Even angry as she was it caught her off guard to see her mom that angry.

 “I don’t want you to end up like me Kel,” she repeated. “You shouldn’t have to live with blood on your hands.”

 “I’m trying to protect people,” Kelly said. “I’m trying to protect my family.”

 “That doesn’t include murder Kelly,” Alex said. “No matter how much they hurt you. Which is why you’re being removed completely, your access to the DEO will be restricted and I do not want any heroics out of you until the threat has been neutralized.”

 “You’re grounding me?”

            Alex set a dampener on the table with a nod. “If you use your powers at all I will be forced to place this dampener on you, it can only be removed by me or Lena.”

 “Why Lena?” Kelly temporarily forgot that they were fighting.

 “It was originally meant for Lori when she was young,” Alex said. “It doesn’t matter, you’re done Kelly. Go home.”

            Kelly jabbed her finger at Alex, her anger rising once more. “Screw you, screw you.” She regretted it the second she said it but she wasn’t going to back down or take it back. If Alex wanted her to go home, she would go and she would stay there, just like she asked. At least to start. She couldn’t put the dampener on her if she couldn’t catch her, she would wait until she got the right opportunity and end it once in for all.

            She brushed pass Alex, nearly knocking into her mother, but deciding against it at the last moment. Kelly threw the door open with enough force that it shattered one of the glass panels around the room. Maggie and the others, who had been waiting by the stairs, all whipped around in time to see Kelly storming out of the conference room. Behind her was Alex, rubbing her temples once more as she surveyed the damaged panel. Maggie was the first to move to intercept Kelly but one glare from her daughter stopped her in her tracks.

            She was half way down the stairs before Lori grabbed her arm, forcing the older girl to stop. Kelly tried to pull her arm away, but Lori’s grip was like steel.

 “Let go of me.”

 “No, why are you acting like this?” Lori sounded heartbroken. “She’s just looking out for you.”

 “No, she just doesn’t want to admit I’m right,” Kelly growled. “I know what you’re trying to do, it won’t work. Just leave me alone Lori.”

            She could see her cousin was almost in tears as she released her grasp on Kelly. It hurt Kelly to do that to Lori, she had done nothing wrong, but at that moment she wanted nothing to do with any of them. She left without another glance at them.

            Back at the conference room Alex just shook her head. She glanced over the banister at the agents below, spotting the one she wanted. “Vasquez stay with her, don’t let her out of your sight.”

            The younger agent glanced up at her, giving her a thumbs up, rising from her seat and quickly jogging off in the same direction Kelly had just left. Alex looked around one last time. “Everyone get back to work, I’ll be in the training room.” Much like Kelly, Alex disappeared without a glance at anyone else. Leaving Maggie and the others a bit concerned. They had no idea what words had actually been exchanged between Alex and Kelly, but whatever it had been it was enough to make Kelly storm off and for Alex to shut down.

            Maggie took once glance at Kara and Lena and realized they weren’t sure what to do either. “You heard her, back to work.” She left it at that, they all knew what they had to do. They were fractured, which was exactly what Warden had wanted, but they weren’t broken, not by a long shot.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holiday’s everyone! Got this chapter done early enough that I could post it a day early as a little Christmas gift. As I will be spending the holiday’s alone with my parents cats (woo) I wanted to get this out so I could enjoy my holiday without having to worry about this. In any case we’re starting to get to the breaking point. Thanks for reading, let me hear what you think and as always enjoy. (Next chapter will be posted like normal in 2 weeks on thursday)

            They needed to move now, while the family was divided. Warden had told Ms. Thorul as much, but she hadn’t listened. She never listened. It pissed Warden off that Ms. Thorul had some kind of plan that she refused to fill Warden in on. She didn’t know the plan, how was she supposed to fulfill her mission when she didn’t even know what it was supposed to be. Kill Supergirl? Simple enough. Manipulate Flare to join them? Simple in theory but with the restrictions Ms. Thorul placed on her it was the most complex, convoluted mess that Warden had ever been a part of.

 “Get up,” she growled at the grunt on the floor.

            She had been at it for hours, beating down grunts, forcing them back up to go at it again. There was six of them she picked at random. She knew they all felt like this was a punishment, and in a twisted way it was, but not for them. It was for her, she didn’t know what else to do. Donovan would rub it in that Ms. Thorul was slipping away from her. Ms. Thorul didn’t even want to look at her.

            Three of the grunts closed in on her. One threw a punch, which she caught twisting their wrist and kicking his foot out from under him. Her body twisted as she threw him into the second grunt, the two fell to the ground with a resounding thud. The third grunt wasn’t as easy, they had sparred together before, and he could actually keep up with her when she wasn’t using her powers. He was calm and calculating something none of the others were. She ducked under a roundhouse kick her arm connecting with his back, he twisted grabbing her arm trapping her with an arm behind her back.

            He twisted her arm farther, forcing her to her knees. The three remaining grunts stayed back, knowing that is they descended around her that they would end up being throw by one of her kinetic blasts. The hold on her was growing painful.

 “I yield.”

            He released her arm offering to help her up. Warden swatted his hand away getting to her feet on her own. They knew it was over then, the six of them left together, knowing better than to stick around. Each of them had seen the extent of her anger when she had been pushed too far by grunts.

 “I didn’t realize you gave in so easily Warden,” Donovan was standing in the doorway a smug smirk spread across his face.

            Warden threw a bolt of light at him without thinking about it. The concrete was next to him exploded outward wiping the smugness off his face. She wanted to kill him, it would have been easy to snap his neck. She was sick and tired of Donovan, he was doing nothing for their cause except to cause her more trouble. Her recent encounter with Flare had revealed something to her that Ms. Thorul hadn’t noticed. Flare became completely unhinged when it came to her father. She would never join them, not with Donovan there.

 “Why don’t you fuck off Donovan,” Warden snarled. “I don’t like you, I don’t like you being here. And if you get in my way one more fucking time I will kill you.”

 “Lighten up Warden,” Donovan said closing the distance between them. “Your plan worked, you got what you wanted. I got what I wanted. Who cares if the boss is mad?”

            Sher snapped. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt she slammed him into the wall. He grabbed her hand but didn’t struggle. She found he enjoyed pushing her buttons, he liked pissing her off because he knew she could do nothing about it. He was protected by Ms. Thorul.

 “You have no idea what I have to lose,” she said her voice growing dangerous. “If she is mad, she will cut me loose and I cannot and will not lose her, do you understand?”

 “Perfectly,” he said. “Now can you let me go?”

            Warden released her hold on Donovan. She couldn’t bare to be in the same room as him any longer, she needed to get out, get some air. He seemed all to willing to let her do so. Donovan turned on his heel, starting down the hall towards Ms. Thorul’s command center. He had words for her and he knew she would listen to him now with the way Warden was now. Ms. Thorul glance up from her computer screen when Donovan entered the room. He was much less reserved than Warden was around her. he excelled at pushing her boundaries. She even found herself enjoying it.

 “That pet of yours is starting to be very unhinged,” he said taking a seat on the edge on her desk. “What exactly is her deal anyway? Does she just hate everything? Or just men?”

 “Warden has always been extremely emotional,” Ms. Thorul said, taking a drink of what Donovan suspected was scotch. “Since the day I found her she has never been capable of keeping her emotions in check. She angers fast, you learn to deal with it.”

 “So, you just let her go on like this?” Donovan stared at her in disbelief. “To what end?”

            Ms. Thorul chuckled into her glass. Donovan wasn’t a very bright man, she had known that for a very long time, but she had thought that he would have at least figured some of this stuff out on his own. She hoped his daughter was smarter than he was, she certainly had his temper if his wounds had anything to say about it.

 “You don’t understand, do you?” Ms. Thorul finished her glass, setting it aside. “Warden is replaceable, she always has been. The goal has always been for Kelly to take her place by my side in this upcoming battle. We would have already been there had it not been for your lack of discretion.”

            Donovan reached for her bottle of scotch, pausing before his fingers brushed the glass. “May I?” When she nodded, he took it, pouring himself a generous portion in the extra glass she kept on the table. He drank it like a shot, refilling it once it was all gone before he turned his head to look her in the eye.

 “Cadmus and the Children of Liberty offered me a unique opportunity, I had been a part of both before you even came knocking at my door,” he said, swallowing more of the scotch. “My mistake was trusting Lockwood. If it hadn’t been for him Kelly would have never left me.”

            Ms. Thorul’s expression softened at this. Donovan had always come off as possessive over his things, and that was what Kelly was to him. But on some sick level that she didn’t quite understand because she herself had never felt it, he loved his daughter deeply. Loosing her had hurt him far more than she had ever thought. Even then it didn’t change how he treated her, Kelly had to be molded, and he had done that, but it was all undone by Alexandra Danvers and her wife.

 “There is no point dwelling in the past,” she said, refilling her own glass. “What’s done is done. We need to focus on getting her to us, and then ridding ourselves of Warden. Think you can handle working with her that much longer?”

 “If it gets me my daughter back, I’ll do anything you ask of me.”

            She smiled, that cold smile Donovan had learned to expect from her. He held his glass out for her as a silent invitation to their sudden agreement. She tapped her glass to his, watching him close as he finished his scotch. Things would move much smoother now that they had reached an understanding.

XXXXX

            Lori had been made fun of for most of her life. People liked her, after all she was the daughter of Lena Luthor, one of the most influential persons of all time, and Kara Danvers, a reporter revered for her unwillingness to let a story go. It didn’t stop them from calling her a nerd or loser or whatever else they could come up with. It was mostly directed at the fact she was a Luthor, people still hadn’t forgiven the Luthor family for all that Lex and Lillian had done in the past. Lena hadn’t been able to escape from it either, even after changing her name to Danvers and doing everything in her power to right the wrongs of her family. It had hurt for the longest time; her parents hadn’t been able to do anything to ease her suffering. They understood, sure, but they just couldn’t help.

            It had been Kelly who had dispelled all the self-doubt Lori had ever held for herself. Her cousin had always stood up for her when no one else would. She had gone through her fair share of bullying as well; she knew how hard it could be when there was no one to stand up for her. Parents meant well but it didn’t help. Kelly had always been like Lori’s personal protector, her best friend and person she could go to when her parents just wouldn’t understand. They were family, they protected one another, and Lori had always looked up to her cousin. She was strong and determined, no matter what anyone said about her. Kelly had never needed superpowers to prove to Lori that she was a hero, she did that just by standing up for Lori when no one else did.

            So, when Kelly pulled away from her, told her to leave her alone, to not try, it had hurt worse than anything anyone had ever said to her. To see her cousin in so much pain and not being able to do a damn thing about it had been the worst feeling in the world. Kelly had always been there for her in her time of need. It was only fair that she be there for Kelly, even if she didn’t want her help.

            Her moms had told her to leave Kelly alone, to let her sulk on her own, until the threat was dealt with. Kara had been adamant that Lori stay away from her cousin until everything was over. Lena on the other hand had been less vocal, something told Lori that Lena had more of an understanding what Kelly was currently struggling with. If Lori could just get Kelly to talk to Lena maybe things would be okay. Maybe her aunt Alex would let Kelly help with the case. The only problem was Kelly wasn’t answering her texts or her calls. She knew Kelly was ignoring her, but this was to much. Sometimes her cousin could be completely dense.

            Lori had waited for Lena to go back to her lab at L-Corp and for Kara to head to CatCo before she slipped out of the house. If she was lucky, she would be back before Kara returned home. She knew Lena would be spending the night at the lab. Which meant Kara wouldn’t be in a great mood when she got home but Lori was willing to take that risk if it meant talking some sense into her cousin.

 

            It didn’t come as a surprise that Vasquez was the one to answer the door at Kelly’s apartment. She knew that her aunt had sent Vasquez after Kelly to keep an eye on her, and it was already showing just how tired Vasquez was. The agent had been loyal to Alex throughout the years, becoming one of Alex’s most trusted agents.

 “What are you doing here little Danvers?” Vasquez quickly stepped out of the apartment, clearly not wanting Kelly to overhear. “I thought you went home.”

 “I want to talk to her,” Lori said.

            Vasquez rubbed the back of her neck, sparing a short glance over her shoulder at the door to the apartment. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. “Kelly’s not in the best shape right now.” Lori knew what that meant, Kelly was definitely Alex’s daughter, she always resorted to drinking when things just became to much. She didn’t care, Kelly had to listen to her.

 “Ten minutes, that’s all I’m asking for,” Lori wasn’t above begging. She could easily overpower Vasquez if she really wanted to, but she didn’t want to.

            The woman in front of her didn’t look like she wanted to argue. It was several long seconds before Vasquez’s shoulders sagged. “Ten minutes, I’ll go grab some dinner for myself, when I get back you need to be gone.” Lori nodded with a smile. She knew Vasquez would see reason.

            Lori entered the apartment seconds after Vasquez left. The couch was made up for someone to sleep on but other than that the apartment was almost the same as the last time she had been there. Her cousin was a bit of a neat freak, something she didn’t share with either of her parents. Books were all arranged by size on the shelves, games were arranged in a way that made sense to Kelly but not to Lori. Pictures were scattered throughout the front room Most of Kelly with Alex and Maggie or the entire Superfriends family.

            She made her way into the hall that lead back to Kelly’s room. More photos lined the wall, some were crooked, probably from Kelly’s drunk stumbling to her room. One of the frames had fallen to the ground. Lori stopped to pick it up, smiling when she realized which one it was. It was of Kelly in between both of her parents her arms around both of their shoulders, pulling them in close. All three of them were smiling, like they hadn’t had a care in the world. Lori remembered the day it had been taken; it had been a month after Kelly had nearly died. Everyone had been so happy then. It made her wonder if things would have been different if it hadn’t been Kelly that got sick.

            Lori placed the frame back on the wall, giving it one last glance before heading to Kelly’s room. She pushed the door open and was greeted by her cousin sprawled across her bed, a bottle of alien alcohol in one hand her phone in the other. Her shirt was torn, one shoe was still on her foot while the other was nowhere to be seen. The room reeked of alcohol, enough to make Lori gag. Kelly must have come straight home and started drinking for her to be this bad in only a few hours.

 “Kelly?” Lori slowly entered the room. “You still alive?”

            When her cousin didn’t respond she poked her bare foot, knowing Kelly was extremely ticklish. Kelly groaned, rolling onto her stomach and pulling her foot away. Lori redoubled her efforts, jabbing Kelly in the ribs. This time her cousin yelped, sitting up on the bed, spilling alcohol all over herself.

 “What the fuck?!” she shouted her words slurring. Upon seeing Lori her posture changed, her expression going from angry to annoyed. “Oh, it’s you.”

            Not the reaction she was hoping for but at least Kelly wasn’t attacking her. Kelly took a long swig from the bottle. “I thought I told you to leave me alone.”

 “You should know by now I don’t listen very well.”

 “Then let me make this clear,” Kelly moved across the bed, planting her feet on the floor right in front of Lori. “I don’t care what you have to say, I’m not some hero Lori, I proved that the other day with Donovan. You’re not going to change that, so don’t even try.”

 “I know you better than that,” Lori said, her heart growing heavier in her chest. “I’ve always looked up to you, I’m not going to let one incident change that.”

            Kelly’s nostrils flared in anger, she stood up, nearly falling over in the process, clearly to drunk to be standing. She shoved Lori back; she didn’t move which seemed to annoy Kelly even more.

 “Find someone else to look up to,” she growled. “I want nothing to do with you.”

            Lori wasn’t one to get angry easily. She had her mother’s legendary patience. But much like Supergirl, Lori had her limits and Kelly had nailed them almost instantly. Without thinking Lori grabbed the bottle of alien alcohol from Kelly’s hand and chucked it against the wall. The bottle shattered sending glass and liquid all over the room. Kelly stared in shock but had no time to process what had happened before Lori shoved her back so hard Kelly missed the bed completely, landing on the floor on the other side. Her cousin used the bed to prop herself up as she tried to recover from Lori’s outburst.

 “Do you know who expensive that shit is?” Kelly shouted. “I’m going to kill you for that.”

 “Please you can barely stand, you couldn’t possibly beat me.”

            Kelly didn’t even make it out from behind her bed before Lori was throwing her down to the ground. She fisted Kelly’s torn shirt, lifting her upper body from the floor. Kelly’s hands fell to the floor, all the fight suddenly leaving her. Lori could tell her cousin was close to breaking again. She hadn’t been in any shape to argue and was so close to the edge she wondered if Kelly was planning on drinking herself into a coma.

 “Just please Lori, go away,” she muttered. “I fucked up, I don’t deserve your respect or anything from you…I don’t want any of it.”

 “Then you’re dumber than I thought,” Lori said letting her go. “We’re Danvers right and we don’t know when to quit. So, I’m not letting you quit. Lena wants to talk to you; I think she has something planned. So tomorrow you’re going to work and you’re going to talk to her.”

 “And if I don’t?”

 ‘Then I’m going to come back here and drag your ass over there.”

 “Watch your language.”

            Lori smiled, pushing herself off of Kelly only to hold out her hand to help her cousin up. Kelly took her hand, allowing Lori to lift her off the ground, she swayed from side to side, still drunk but her head wasn’t as cloudy as before. Lori helped her sit back down on the bed.

 “Vasquez only gave you ten minutes.”

 “You heard that?”

 “Of course, I did, get out of here,” Kelly said. “Go on.”

 “Just think about what I said.”

            Kelly nodded, laying back in her bed. She wasn’t lying, she would consider what Lori said. It didn’t mean she would do anything about it, but she would consider it. Maybe after she slept off her hangover. She didn’t hear Lori leaving or Vasquez returning. She was already drifting into unconsciousness having been worn out by the sheer act of talking to her cousin.

XXXXX

            Maggie pinned Alex to the mat, one knee in the center of her wife’s chest and her hands pinning Alex’s above her head. They had been going at it for hours. Brainy was working on tracing the money trail and had quickly dismissed Maggie saying something along the lines that she was in the way. Maggie hadn’t exactly minded, but the way he had said it had annoyed her. She had taken the opportunity to find Alex, her hope had been to talk, but upon finding Alex in the training room she had realized that talking wasn’t an option.

            Alex fell into these moods where talking was impossible for her, even drinking didn’t help ease the stress she was under. It was in those moments Alex fell back on one of two things, sex or as in this case, sparring. She would talk when she had worn herself out, and she wasn’t there yet. Alex, ever flexible, somehow got one of her legs under Maggie’s arm. She shoved her foot down causing Maggie to fall back, allowing Alex to get back to her feet.

 “You’ve got to be getting tired Alex,” Maggie said between breaths.

 “Don’t tell me you are.” Alex lunged at her, catching her in the side.

            Maggie didn’t have the time to say that yes, she was getting tired. She was emotionally drained to the point that her body felt the fatigue. Unfortunately for her Alex still needed the distraction and with Kara elsewhere it fell on Maggie to take care of it. She would have much preferred to go home and handle this stress like they use to when they were younger. Alex’s foot hooked under her leg, knocking her to the ground. She felt Alex’s weight bare down on her a second later, pinning her to the floor.

 “I give,” Maggie breathed. “Alex I can’t go any more.”

            Much to her surprise (and relief) Alex moved off of her before helping her to her feet. Her wife was breathing heavily but clearly not ready to call it quits. Maggie sighed, the situation was weighing on Alex more than she had originally thought.

 “I’m sorry if I went to far,” Alex muttered rubbing her shoulder.

 “You didn’t, don’t worry,” Maggie assured her. “I’m just tired Alex. You look tired to, maybe we should go home.”

            Alex shook her head at the suggestion. “To much work to be done, you go if you want, I want to work out a little long then get started on the plans for once we find Warden’s hideout.”

            Maggie knew there was no arguing with Alex. Resigning herself to the realization she would be spending the night alone, Maggie kissed Alex’s cheek, lingering longer than necessary hoping her wife would change her mind. When Alex turned away, heading towards the Salmon ladder, Maggie knew it was pointless. Alex was dead set on wearing herself down before she quit for the night. Maggie didn’t exactly blame her; she would give anything to have Alex’s willpower. With one last glance over her shoulder Maggie started out of the training room, her only goodbye that of wood against metal followed by Alex’s grunts of exertion. It was going to be a long night.


End file.
